Moon Child
by Neku the Last Reaper
Summary: When Angeal decides to become the guardian of a young girl what will happen?
1. Ex Animalibus

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or Crisis Core. I only own my OC, even then I question that.

**A/N This is going to be a story I post when I have the free time and am not busy on my main project. It was born from my current attempt of a Crisis Core perfect file. This is not a romance, it is a family story about the bonds people share through meetings and partings. So without further adieu, the first chapter.**

Sephiroth stared down into the low den; the lion that had made off with his dinner, a nice Tree Deer had run under there. He bent down trying to get a better look at it, he hissed, the other two who had accompanied him would be laughing their heads off about it. Reaching in he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck yanking it out violently. It was a small cub, probably no more then nine months old, it was yowling in shock as Sephiroth glared at him. He wouldn't stay long, he knew that lions never left cubs unattended for too long.

However this thought was interrupted as the sound of a branch snapping in the underbrush. Out of nowhere something charged him pinning him to the ground snarling as it bit him on the back of the neck. He spun around elbowing it hearing the crack of ribs as whatever it was slammed into a rock, the cub had slipped away under the opening to the den.

Sephiroth stood up looking over at what had attacked him; it sure wasn't a Wutainese Lion that was for sure. It was a child, couldn't have been more then twelve years old, black hair hanging around their face, a green bordering golden and blue bordering gray glared up at him from under the bangs, he noticed a long strip of reddish hair running down the middle of their head. Teeth bared at him he noticed the canines were more pointed then normal, the bones must have adapted after the baby teeth had fallen out. They had a reddish fur cloak on as well as long wristbands and leg covers in the same dark fur, what looked like Cockatrice feathers were braided into their hair.

"What are you doing kid?" Sephiroth growled at the kid where they were clutching their ribs.

"Leave our family alone!" The kid, female judging by voice roared.

He blinked, "you speak Midgaran?"

"We know the speech of your clan," she replied coughing up blood.

The cub poked its head out of the den mewing at her, "be careful!"

She looked over at the cub, "we are perfectly fine, get back inside and stay down."

The cub nodded and scampered back inside leaving the girl alone.

Sephiroth watched her sit up snarling at him, he was in a dilemma now. He hated to shed blood excessively however she did try and attack him. Then again she was only doing it to defend the cub and he did intrude on his territory but the cub had stolen his dinner. Which brought him back to his initial problem of whether or not he should kill her. He watched her coughing up more blood by the minute, until her eyes rolled back and passed out.

The cub clambered out of the den scampering up to her nuzzling her, licking her cheek, trying to get her to move. His pale red fur glinting in the fading sunlight in the grassland, he looked up at Sephiroth before nipping her ear. He desperately tugged at the feathers in her hair, she wasn't moving and her breathing was uneven. In a last ditch effort the cub charged over to Sephiroth tugging at the hem of his coat looking up at him wide eyed.

He sighed, "you want me to help her is that what you want?"

The cub's ears pricked up and he leaned over as a group of lionesses came out, wine red fur reflecting the light of the sun, all of them sporting blue and white feathers braided into their fur, "yes."

Sephiroth spun around seeing them readying to fight them off, "you speak?"

"You are one of the few able to understand our language, but we've known for some time that she could never stay here," the one in front replied, the matriarch, flecks of grey fur dotting her muzzle reflecting the failing light as she spoke.

"So why did you take her in?" Sephiroth asked as he bent down checking her breathing.

"There is a legend in this clan of two legs, that anyone born with unusual eyes, such as two tone or cat slit is bound to cause catastrophe. They brought her out here in hopes she would die when she was just a small child saying she was a demon in two-leg form. We found her and took her into our pride," the elder replied sitting down next to Sephiroth.

"So basically you're going to leave her to me?" Sephiroth asked.

The elder lioness nodded, "the stars and Planet have told us that you would come for her. If you should refuse we will make you take by force."

"Dammit... I don't know anything about kids, soon as we get her ribs fixed I'll send her to some orphanage," he declared pulling off his jacket and wrapping her in it and putting her on his back.

"Very well, we were merely told you would take her. Not what you would do with her," the elder turned and picked up the cub before disappearing into the grass.

He sighed, he'd heard of kids being raised by animals if they were abandoned, but he never expected he'd be caring for one. He was on a diplomatic mission in Wutai, it was five days after the war with Wutai and Emperor Godo only wanted to meet with Sephiroth on these sorts of things. It had been a long meeting and a two-day ride from the chopper drop off zone since the terrain around Wutai was absolutely treacherous. However he'd brought along a couple of his SOLDIERs with him, they were out in the field where they had set up camp. They wouldn't be back at their chopper until tomorrow.

He saw the fire of camp as the group around it looked up, two SOLDIERs stood up as he came back, Zack Fair, Second Class, was the first to speak, "Welcome back General!" Zack's eyes lit up at his commander's return. It wasn't often Second Class were allowed to accompany First Class on missions like these. But he was thrilled to have had the chance to come along, well more like he had taken the wrong transport onto a mission by mistake.

"Here," Sephiroth muttered setting the girl by the firelight, she was still coughing violently with the occasional blood coming up.

The other SOLDIER, Angeal Hewley, First Class, pulled back her fur shirt and saw the bones in her ribs poking the skin, "Seph, what did you do to her?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "I didn't know who was attacking me."

"This isn't good, she may have a punctured lung, and unless we do something she'll lose too much blood and go into cardiac arrest," Angeal replied. "We're going to have to pull the bone out and reset everything until we can get her to Midgar and get some better treatment. Zack boil me some water, Sephiroth get me as many bandages as you can." Angeal requested quickly, Sephiroth wasn't complaining about being ordered around, Angeal had more medical training then he did and this was a medical emergency. He started digging through their supplies for any scrap of dressings he could find.

Zack nodded as he boiled up some water, Angeal dipped his hands into it before dipping his pocket knife into it. Carefully placing the blade to her skin he made his initial incision seeing the bone spring out.

He carefully worked the bone out of her lung before reaching into the pouch on his belt and pulling out some materia. "Cure3," he muttered as the external wound healed over, taking the bandages from Sephiroth wrapping them around her torso tightly. Materia could only do so much, however it would ease the pain for a while.

"Okay we need to get her back to Midgar as soon as we can," Angeal announced washing his hands and knife off again.

Zack breathed a sigh of relief, "that's good."

Sephiroth sighed, "why are we doing this for some no name kid?"

Angeal lay back watching the stars, "tell me Sephiroth, did you ever have kids abandoned in your hometown simply because of superstition?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "never, it sounds despicable though." He commented thinking about his own childhood and wondering if it was similar in any way. "What about you Fair?"

Zack shook his head, "nope nothing like that, you Angeal?"

The First Class nodded, "yeah, I remember. A while back I took a vacation off to see my mother, it was just after I became Third Class, about that time there was a baby born. The parents were scared of it because it had two-tone eyes, one green and one blue. They were so mortified by it they never even named the kid, I watched them carry it out of town. I never knew what happened to the kid." Angeal sighed, "I was fifteen when it happened, my mother let me out of the house and I followed them. They drove out of town, I didn't know where they went off to but when they came back they were missing the child. I wonder if this is the same child... would it be alright with you General if we took her back?"

Sephiroth nodded, "very well," he grumbled.

The three took turns on shifts for the rest of the night changing out bandages and making sure nothing attacked the camp. Not all of the fauna were as amicable as Wutainese Lions and some deliberately attacked humans for no reason. When morning came they walked to the chopper, Angeal having taken over the transportation of the child.

Climbing inside Sephiroth sat down at the controls, he'd requested to fly out there without a pilot, to quote his reasoning, "otherwise I will become rusty if I do not get to practice." They made the seven-hour flight back to Midgar landing as the sun was coming up over the horizon.

Angeal took the girl down to the Medical Center, "she has several severe broken ribs."

The doctor nodded and rushed her into intensive care on a stretcher, the SOLDIER sighed sitting down on one of the benches outside. He stretched out and fell asleep exhausted from the trip but he didn't want to leave her alone. He had a severe mistrust of any medical person; he'd be in there right now if he could.

"Mr. Hewley," the doctor called.

Angeal woke with a start, "what? Is she okay?"

The doctor nodded, "yes, she's unconscious but fine. Her ribs were severely damaged but thanks to whatever medical care she had previous to you bringing her here she's managed to pull through. We'll need to keep her here until she regains consciousness though."

Angeal nodded, "thank you, may I see her?"

The doctor opened the door to the recovery room, Angeal walked in looking at the girl. She was sound asleep; he smiled brushing her hair out of her face. Despite not being able to help her before, this time he was going to make every effort to help her.

He watched her sleep for a little while longer before standing up and heading for his quarters. He could use some sleep too, and a shower.


	2. Ad Casae

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sorry.

The next morning Angeal walked into Sephiroth's office, "Sephiroth?"

"Angeal, recovered from the trip?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yes sir however there's a matter I wish to discuss with you," Angeal declared sitting down in a chair.

Sephiroth looked up from some of his paperwork, "go on."

"It's about the girl we rescued," Angeal started.

"Continue," Sephiroth nodded.

Angeal looked out the window; "I was wondering what we were going to do with her when she'd recovered."

Sephiroth set the papers down, "we know nothing about her, no parentage history, no name, no records whatsoever."

"I understand that but I was asking what was to be done with her," Angeal replied watching his commander.

Sephiroth shrugged, "we'll wait until she's healed then give her off to someone."

Angeal's brows furrowed, "with your permission sir, I'd be willing to take care of her."

Sephiroth raised a silver eyebrow, "oh is that so? What do you know about children?"

Angeal shook his head, "who would you rather have her guardian be, me or that Turk Reno?"

Sephiroth twitched, the mere thought of Reno attempting to raise a kid was enough to let Angeal handle the situation. "Any trouble she gets in, it's on your head, she's your responsibility."

Angeal relaxed standing up, "understood, with your permission."

Sephiroth nodded and Angeal stood up leaving the SOLDIER General to his work, he wanted to go check on his new charge but he had to oversee training. He walked down the hall seeing Sebastian strolling along. "Sebastian may I have a word?"

The other SOLDIER nodded, "sure, what do you want Angeal?"

"I was wondering if you could cover for me today, I have something I need to take care of," Angeal asked hopefully.

Sebastian nodded, "I've got nothing to do, I was going to as Seph if I could use the Training Course but that sounds more interesting."

Angeal nodded smiling slightly, "thanks."

"No problem," Sebastian replied as they went to the Training Hall. "See you later then." He smiled opening the door and walking through to see the assembly gathered around inside.

Angeal continued on to the stairs, he didn't feel like the elevator, he walked down to the room where the girl was still being held for monitoring. He opened the door and walked in, she was sitting up in bed watching out the window unflinchingly.

"Hello, it would seem you're feeling better," Angeal attempted a friendly greeting.

"We do not understand." She spoke as he walked over.

He blinked, "understand what?"

"We are grateful to you for saving us," she replied without looking at them. "But we do not understand what we are doing here."

Angeal walked over sitting down on the chair next to the bed, "we couldn't leave you behind. Fortunately the wounds you received weren't severe and we managed to treat you, you'll have to stay in bed though."

"Then we are den bound until we are able to hunt again, yet we feel no discomfort in our injuries from the silver maned one." She commented quietly running a hand along her ribs.

Angeal was quiet for a moment, normal injuries took at least a week to heal even with materia and surgery. Yet she'd recovered to a normal state in a few days, he sighed watching her, "do you have a name?"

Her gaze finally broke away from the window, "we have no need of such. Humans are the only ones who feel the need to use names." She finally looked at him, "at least, that is what they tell us."

Angeal nodded watching the girl, "well they must have said correctly, I'm Angeal Hewley."

She watched him for a moment, "we have no name to offer in exchange."

"Hmm… well we'll just have to change that," Angeal smiled standing up. He pulled off his glove and reached out slowly with his right hand placing it on her head and giving her hair a ruffle. "Nice to meet you, Ariella."

She looked up at him, "Ari…ella?"

"That's right, you're name's Ariella," he smiled at her.

"Nice to meet you Angeal Hewley, our name is Ariella," she replied, a hint of a smile tugging at her face.

He stood up, "you don't need to keep using 'we' but I'll help you with that later."

"Where are you going?" Ariella asked watching him walk towards the door.

He turned back to look at her, "I have things I need to do but tomorrow if you're up to it I'll show you around."

She nodded, "we look forward to it."

He exited and rubbed his right shoulder with his left hand heading for the reception. He filled out her discharge paperwork, she was free to leave at any time but another long night of rest would be good for her. Angeal headed back to the SOLDIER level and started into the pile of paperwork finishing it off and deciding to call it a day.

Xxxxxxxxxx

The next day Angeal woke up earlier then normal, stiffly he made his way into the shower grateful for the hot water. When he'd finished brushing his teeth and getting ready he headed down to the Medical Center. It was 5:30 in the morning so there wouldn't be many people around, making his way to her room he knocked before opening the door.

Ariella was sitting in bed watching the moon sinking slowly down beyond the horizon; he walked in, "good morning. You're up early."

"We… um…. I… am accustomed to being awake at the Twix and Twain," she commented.

He was impressed, "you've only been here a day and you're already using the first person singular. What brought that on?"

"If we are to understand more about your culture we… we mean I… must become accustomed to the language." Ariella replied.

"For someone who was confused about why they were here you seem to be willing to accept it," Angeal commented.

She shrugged, "if we… er I… am here then it must be foreordained. Circumstances, places, everything changes, we cannot stop it from doing so."

Angeal watched her for a moment silently, for someone young she sure didn't act like most children, "come on I want to show you around." Her gaze broke away from the window, she stood up and he smiled, he opened the door, "come on. We're going out."

They walked over to the elevator, he explained how it worked and then pointed out some of the basic features of Midgar out of the window, "down there are the mako reactors, they form the main border of Midgar, each area has its own reactor. There are eight reactors in all."

Ariella nodded, "one for each of the eight sections."

"You catch on quick," he complimented ruffling her hair.

They made their way through the SOLDIER commons to the First Class wing, Angeal opened the door, "we're home," he put on a sheepish grin.

The apartment was well furnished; the walls had some framed photographs of landscapes and animals. All of the bookshelves had books of varying topics from military topics and swords to fantasy novels. The carpet possessed a neutral earth tone matching the muted pastels of the walls both of which complimented the open living area. Ariella walked around the room a couple of times sniffing everything, Angeal sighed smiling. She walked over to the far side of the room and reached out, he panicked running over there, "be careful!"

The object she tried to touch was a large Broadsword with two materia slots, his heirloom Buster Sword. "Why?" She asked looking at him, "we sense no ill will from this rock."

He shook off the fact she'd just called his priceless family heirloom a rock, "it's dangerous, thing of it as a giant fang."

She looked at the ground, "we are… er I am… sorry."

He smiled, "no harm done, just be careful."

Angeal turned walking into his room and digging around for anything he had that he could fit on Ariella. A few minutes later he'd dressed her in a black turtleneck and a pair of jeans. The collar of the shirt came up a little below her nose, the sleeves were rolled back a little, and the pants had a belt strapped around them as tight as it would go. "Do you like them?"

She nodded, "it will take some getting used to but they are certainly warm."

"That's good, then let me show you around," he smiled beckoning her over to the hallway leading to his room, "this is my er, den. And over here is the bathroom," he opened the door across the hall. "This is the sink, you use it to wash your hands, this is the toilet, it's where you take care of personal business, and this is the shower, think of it like a waterfall where you wash off."

She nodded, "we… um I… understand."

He walked over to the kitchen, "and this is the kitchen, most of the things in here can light things on fire so don't use them without me being here with you."

"You have the powers of the flame? Hmm," Ariella walked over examining the stove and oven.

"Are you hungry?" Angeal asked walking over to his coffee pot and starting to brew up some for himself.

She nodded vigorously, "yes, did you hunt any antelope?"

"Um, no," Angeal shook his head.

"Oh, gazelle?" She asked again hopefully.

"No," he answered.

"Sanghin?" She continued.

"Sorry," he shook his head.

"Boar?" Ariella was sounding a little desperate now.

He thought for a moment, "yes I may have some around."

Walking over to the fridge and opened it up grabbing some ham out along with some eggs, mushrooms and cheese. He flicked on the stove grabbing a pan off and setting it on poring some oil into it, he cracked the eggs dropping them into the pan with one hand whisking carefully with the other. As the eggs homogenized he chopped up the ham into little bits dropping them and the mushrooms in. He watched it cook for a moment grating the cheese, Ariella watched him intently.

"Why are you burning it? We… uh I… thought we were going to eat it." She asked looking confused about him cooking.

He smiled at her, "I didn't grow up eating the way you did, and if you want to live with me you have to eat like me." He turned back to the stove and dropped the shredded cheese on it before turning off the heat and taking it off the stove. Tipping the pan he set the omelet on a plate and cut a piece off handing it to her, "just try it."

She sniffed it before taking it out of his hand and eyeing it, silently she popped it into her mouth chewing carefully, "hmm… it has a strange taste but we like it." She smiled up at him.

He walked over to the small table and set the omelet down on the table with a napkin, fork and knife, "have at it." He turned his back for five minutes to cook up his own breakfast, when he turned back the omelet was gone and Ariella was sitting in the chair in a sort of squat. "Did you chew?" He asked setting down his own plate next to her and poring a cup of coffee and settling in to eat.

She nodded, "it was good."

Angeal smiled reaching over and putting an arm around her shoulders, "I'm glad." He started eating his own breakfast feeling relieved that his job was a little bit easier then he thought it was.


	3. Pugnate

Disclaimer: I don't own FF, sorry.

The next few days Angeal was in and out of his apartment constantly, bringing paperwork back to do while keeping an eye on Ariella. She was adapting quickly to his apartment and had learned not to flinch at taking a shower. She spent most of her days by the window asking Angeal about Midgar and Shin-Ra in general. However the longer he kept up his parenting duties he was finding it harder and harder to get out of running Second Class training.

It was a week after Ariella started living in Angeal's apartment that Sephiroth called, "Angeal we need to talk."

"Yes sir, what is it?" Angeal asked watching, as Ariella seemed engrossed by a falcon eating outside.

"You haven't been attending your training classes, Nate told me you haven't shown up for a week." Sephiroth replied.

Angeal winced, "I'm sorry sir, parenting is harder then it looks."

"I don't want to hear it, I want you at today's practice, no excuses, I'll be there waiting for you," Sephiroth scolded before hanging up.

Angeal sighed putting the phone down watching Ariella, "Ari, we need to go."

She looked up, "Angeal… where are we going?"

He sighed, "General says I have to run training today, and I can't leave you home alone so you'll have to come with me."

He opened the door and they made their way into the elevator, Ariella looked up at him, "may I?"

Angeal nodded, "go ahead."

She leaped up hitting the button as the doors closed, Angeal was surprised to find they were sharing a car with Sephiroth, "General." Angeal greeted.

"Angeal, and I see you decided to bring her along with you," Sephiroth commented as they looked down to Ariella gazing out the window.

Angeal sighed, "I had no choice sir. Until she learns the dangers of being home alone I can't risk it."

"That's probably for the best but she better behave herself during practice," Sephiroth commented watching her calmly.

The doors opened and the threesome left for the Training Hall, the room fell silent as they entered, Ariella glared suspiciously at all of them as if trying to discern who was the one they were after. Angeal sighed putting a hand on her head, "take it easy, they're pretty mellow."

She blinked relaxing back to just behind him. "Okay everyone, this is Ariella, I want you to be on your best behavior. She's a bit skittish so keep your heads," Angeal glared around at the assembled Second Class.

One of the Second Class, Nate Jackson walked forward with an overconfident smirk. He'd always had an attitude and a bad one at that; in his own mind he was the greatest thing that ever happened to SOLDIER. He put on an overconfident smirk, "come on how bad could a little brat be?"

He reached out for Ariella's head; she immediately grabbed his hand twisting him and threw him to the ground snarling. She'd dislocated his elbow from the throw and had her free hand wrapped around his throat, teeth poised to rip out his jugular.

The group burst out laughing, Nate had an inflated ego and this little girl had taken him down a few pegs. Zack was extremely pleased since Nate was a royal pain to deal with and he knew Ariella's roots in combat. Sephiroth allowed himself to smile slightly, Nate had been a problem of late without Angeal around. Apparently Ariella would be a nice addition to practices.

Angeal turned back to the rest of the Second Class, "I neglected to mention that Ari was formerly raised by lions and is used to taking down animals over a ton in weight." He smiled at where she still had the struggling SOLDIER pinned.

Zack laughed picking Ariella up off of Nate, whose face was turning pale, "I think we'll get along just fine!"

Ariella watched him looking at Angeal's smiling face and a small smile crept on. She vaguely remembered Zack from her first day meeting Angeal. He was nice, "we think so too."

Nate sat up coughing and glaring at her with loathing. "Damn it… stupid little sonuva…" he muttered before Sephiroth walked over and picked him up by the ear.

"Mr. Jackson do you have something you wish to share with the rest of us?" Sephiroth demanded as he watched Zack put Ariella down by Angeal.

"N-No sir," Nate grunted.

Sephiroth turned his head to look at the other Second Class members, "I want everyone to walk away from this learning something valuable, when attempting to take on an opponent never let outward appearance determine what you believe they are capable of."

"Yes sir!" The group sprang to attention as Sephiroth walked into the middle of the room.

"Partner up for empty hand CQC!" Angeal called before joining Sephiroth for a better chance to observe the group as they spread out along the edges of the room. Several seemed eager to replicate the spectacle from earlier.

Ariella was with Zack and his partner, a young man named Daniel, and he was desperately trying to understand the move she'd preformed on Nate.

Zack attempted to throw Daniel, "like that?"

Ariella shook her head, "more flow, you are too sticky."

"Too sticky?" He looked at her confused.

"You move with your feet stuck in a mud pit, do not think the ground is there at all," Ariella replied.

He nodded, "I see. Alright Danny go again," Daniel nodded and came at Zack again. The next moment Daniel was on the ground and Zack firmly pinning him.

"She's certainly causing a level of enthusiasm I haven't seen since day 1," Sephiroth commented watching Zack go down.

"Agreed, they're all working harder then I've seen them in a while," Angeal nodded.

Sephiroth watched his friend, "she can't stay you know."

Angeal watched the floor intently, "…I don't know if I want her to leave though."

"That's the fundamental difference between us, you become to involved you never want to let it go," Sephiroth replied.

Angeal walking over to Zack, Daniel, and Ariella, "you should try investing in something some time, it does wonders for binding people to you."

Sephiroth stood there contemplating that for a moment. "Binding ties…. Hmm."

Angeal meanwhile, was calmly watching Zack attempting to throw Daniel and vice versa, "move your feet more. The more movement you waste the more inefficient you are when you try it."

Zack nodded attacking Daniel, the younger SOLDIER stepped out of the way slamming Zack to the ground. "How was that Mr. Hewley?"

"It looks fine to me, what about you Ari?" He asked the girl.

She nodded, "he moves but he has no intention behind it."

Angeal sighed, "give them a break, they just saw you do it so they need time to adapt."

Ariella nodded, "I understand."

She stayed behind with Zack as Angeal went to examine how another group was doing. However there was trouble afoot, Nate was still furious about his humiliating beating at her hands and he wouldn't pass up an opportunity to get a sneak attack in. He walked away from his partner and started to charge Ariella with a punch while Angeal and Sephiroth weren't looking.

Ariella heard the running and side stepped kicking her leg out under his as he went for his punch. As soon as he landed she was on the back of his neck, mouth clamped over until she could taste blood. Angeal heard the commotion and ran over there, "Ariella get off of him!"

She let go looking up wide-eyed and confused; Zack, Daniel and several other Second Class stepped forward as Angeal glared at Ariella. "Wait a minute! Before you get mad at her he's the one who provoked it! He tried to attack her!" Daniel defended honestly.

Angeal turned his steel gaze to Zack, "is that right Fair?"

"Angeal, I saw it, and I can assure Ari was only acting out of pure self defense. So then as to the disciplinary actions of Mr. Jackson's unwarranted attack," he picked up the stunned SOLDIER, "rest assured he won't be coming after Ari again any time soon. Dismissed!"

The collective of SOLDIERs disappeared leaving Angeal and Ariella alone. The First Class SOLDIER looked down at where Ari was sitting quietly staring at the floor. She then proceeded to bash her head against the floor; Angeal alarmed by this jerked forward and stopped her. "Take it easy!"

She continued staring at the same spot at the floor, "you are angered with us. We have no choice."

He put a finger under her chin and shook his head smiling, "no I'm not mad with you. I was just a little scared was all. But even if I'm mad then you shouldn't be beating yourself up, instead try focusing on how to do better the next time."

She watched his eyes intently, in this light he could have sworn she had mako glow in them. "We understand…"

He smiled standing up, "good, come on, let's go have dinner. I'm making steak tonight."

She followed him out of the room at a run leaving the door closed as the lights turned off.


	4. Igne Natura

Disclaimer: I own nada.

"Why me?" Sephiroth muttered through gritted teeth glancing behind him at Ariella jogging after him.

Lazard, the head of SOLDIER, shook his head, "because I didn't realize he would be occupied for a while with her."

Earlier that day Lazard had called Angeal into his office and assigned him to run the group field drill for the month today. What Lazard hadn't realized was that he and Sephiroth would have to be on babysitting duty until Angeal got back. Angeal's last message was, "oh could you two do me a favor and take care of Ari while I'm away. I'd feel bad leaving her alone."

The pair had no choice but to agree, admittedly Ariella had protested to Angeal leaving but the promise of a special dinner when he got home convinced her to reluctantly let him go. So now the pair was taking her to staff meeting, Lazard's office had too much delicate equipment and Sephiroth's office was full of weapons, so they were forced to take her with them.

The group entered the elevator, Lazard knelt down next to Ariella, "it's going to take a while for this meeting so try be patient okay?"

She nodded looking at him, "alright. We'll… er I'll try."

He smiled putting his white-gloved hand on her shoulder pushing his glasses up with the other, "good girl."

Sephiroth watched the cravat-wearing Commander, "I'm wondering whose more of a doting mother chocobo, you or Angeal."

Lazard stood up putting a hand behind his head laughing slightly, "I've always been good with children. I'll admit I didn't have much practice with them but I mostly like them."

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow as the elevator doors opened up and they walked out of the elevator, "I didn't know you liked kids."

"Yes well I like how innocent children are sometimes, it's sort of amazing," Lazard sighed.

"I wouldn't know," Sephiroth muttered.

Lazard looked apologetically at his friend, "well you've got the other First Class, they're your friends and so am I. Speaking of friends, where's Ariella?"

Sephiroth looked around alarmed, he'd been so busy talking that he hadn't watched where she'd wandered off. Lazard glanced around the room before spotting her with the Turks and to his surprise Rufus Shin-Ra, who was apparently back from Junon. It wasn't a good group for Ariella to be hanging around with, Reno was there and he was a real wild card when it came to what he was thinking. However Tseng, Rude and Cissnei were there to keep things under control.

Sephiroth picked up on where Lazard was watching and rounded the table putting a hand on Ariella's head, "Ari, what are you doing here?" He looked up nodding to Tseng but glaring at Reno.

"Oh nothing, Angeal said that I should try and meet more people," Ariella replied calmly. "Besides Uncle Sephy, everyone is really nice."

Sephiroth's eyelid twitched, "U-Uncle Sephy? Who told you that?"

"Big Brother Reno," she answered honestly pointing at the Turk.

Reno immediately jumped, "wasn't me yo!"

Lazard walked around the table, "gentlemen that's enough, it's almost time for the meeting to start, so let's be civil shall we?" He gave a glare of dislike to Rufus and the group before striding off to his seat.

Sephiroth gave Reno one last death glare before pulling Ariella away from the assorted Turks. The two sat down in their respective seats and Ariella took up a spot on the floor watching from under the table. Meeting Room 4 was for the larger staff meetings, it had tiers of seats along three sides, and in the middle of the room was a long rectangular wall with a podium stage in the middle. The access to the podium required the person to either take the stairs down to the lowest part of the area or by going up the stairs or by climbing the stairs, going around and going down behind the rectangular wall and up another set of stairs directly behind the podium. Slowly other people entered into the room and took their seats including several First Class who were available for the meeting.

Lazard looked down at where Ariella was sitting by the end of the General's coat, "hey Ari, how are you?"

She looked up at him, "fine, we…I miss Angeal though…"

He sighed, "if I'd realized he was busy taking care of you I wouldn't have sent him out on the training mission with the Second Class."

She shook her head, "we understand… he has important things to do for the good of the pride."

Lazard smiled looking around the table and grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil, "have you ever tried drawing?"

Ariella shook her head taking the paper and pencil, "no."

He smiled, "well it should keep you entertained while we're here."

President Shin-Ra entered the room and stood behind the podium as the room came to order. Sephiroth silently watched the room, it was staff review time, Lazard was the one who mostly engaged in conversation, meanwhile Ariella was keeping herself entertained with drawing. It was nearing the end of the meeting when Ariella looked up at Lazard and Sephiroth, the former was busy talking so she tugged on Sephiroth's coat.

"What?" He muttered looking down at her.

"I have to go," she muttered looking up at him wide eyed.

"Go where?" He asked annoyed.

"You know, _go_." She added emphasis to the go.

"Do you want me to help you find the restroom?" He growled.

She shook her head, with that she crawled along to the end stairs and slipped up them without anyone noticing and left the room. She walked along to the restroom and entered taking care of what she needed to and washed her hands leaving to go back to the meeting when someone else across the hall was standing there. The unruly red hair and messy suit gave it away almost instantly.

"Big Brother Reno!" She ran over to him.

"Kiddo, got bored didja?" He asked casually.

She shook her head, "no we needed to take a break."

"Oh, hey so remember what we were talkin' 'bout earlier yo?" He asked as they walked back towards the room.

She nodded, he smirked putting his mouth by her ear and whispering.

Back in the meeting Sephiroth felt a low growl come up his throat as Hojo walked up the podium. Lazard shot him a sidelong glare, "keep your cool." He hissed.

Sephiroth grunted, "right." He glanced up at the doors, Ariella was taking a while, and maybe he should go check on her.

He started to stand up but Lazard glared at him again, "where are you going?"

"Check on Ari," he muttered.

However at that moment Hojo let out a yelp from his place at the podium kicking it over revealing a flaming sock and smoldering pants cuff. Lazard and Sephiroth looked at each other desperately resisting laughter with ever fiber of their being. They watched Hojo hopping around and screeching not noticing Ariella standing between the two watching Hojo.

The scientist was screeching, "ahhhhh! Aahhhhhhhhhh!"

Lazard glanced down noticing the red stripe of Ariella's hair, "are you okay?"

She nodded, "fine."

Several minutes later the group was dismissed, none of the three spoke until they reached the elevator and the door shut. At the same time both men lost their composure leaning against the side of the car laughing to the point where they couldn't breathe. Ariella stared at them, "we… er… I do not understand, are you dying?"

Lazard looked up at her wiping his glasses off, "no, it's simply that Hojo's reaction to having his foot lit on fire was absolutely priceless."

Ariella had a small smile on her face, "so we did something good?"

Sephiroth watched her, "you mean, you lit Hojo's sock on fire?"

She nodded, "Big Brother Reno told me to."

The pair of men looked at each other, Lazard sighed, "ordinarily we'd scold you for listening to one of Reno's hair brained schemes and for lighting someone on fire, however extenuating circumstances say job well done SOLIDER." He went to a salute, as did Sephiroth.

Ariella stood up smiling a little wider saluting back; she turned around as the door opened up revealing Angeal leaning against the wall. Hastily Sephiroth and Lazard regained their composure as Ariella ran over to Angeal, the SOLDIER looked up at his commanders, "was everything fine while I was gone?"

The pair of sitters nodded, "fine, she was no trouble at all," Lazard replied.

"Well then I need to get her back to the apartment, it's almost dinner time and I promised dinner if she behaved," Angeal stood up, "by your leave."

Sephiroth nodded and Angeal strode off followed by Ariella, the pair returned home for dinner and a good night's sleep. Ariella curled up on the couch like a cat while Angeal went into the bedroom and went to sleep almost immediately. The next day Angeal was walking through the halls shadowed by Ariella when they crossed paths with Sebastian, who had been present at the previous day's events.

"Hey Ari, nice work at the meeting yesterday," Sebastian greeted.

"What do you mean?" Angeal asked scrutinizing the First Class suspiciously.

"Er… she managed to stay quiet during the meeting, it went smooth as any staff review ever does," he replied hastily.

"Hmm. Come along then Ari," Angeal nodded to Sebastian before continuing on.

Sebastian watched him off giving Ariella a wink and a pat on the shoulder to encourage her to go after Angeal. She ran off after Angeal after a small smile to Sebastian.


	5. Vocatus Lupi

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A week after the now infamous "Sock of Flaming Justice" incident at the annual staff review, Ariella had become something of a hero of SOLDIER in her own right. Everyone with the exception of Nate Jackson and his friends were more then happy to see her around the office. However despite the praise over her complete disregard for any sort of Shin-Ra policy, she didn't look very happy. At least not to Angeal, she wasn't her slightly chipper self at all, and it was starting to worry him. He couldn't figure out what the problem was, though he was reading the symptoms, she was talking less then usual, barely eating, and constantly staring out the window or pacing on all fours.

The pattern continued for another week before Angeal decided to get some outside help, "General, I need your help."

Sephiroth looked up from his paperwork, "with what?" It was unusual for Angeal to ask him for help at all.

"It's Ari, she's been out of it lately, I don't know what to do," Angeal hung his head slightly staring somewhere between the floor and his hands.

"What are the symptoms?" Sephiroth asked.

"She's been staring out the windows and pacing back and forth on all fours, she's not eating, I'm worried she'll end up starving herself to death," Angeal replied.

Sephiroth thought for a moment, it had been almost a month since Ariella arrived at Shin-Ra, "hmm… Angeal how often have you let her out of the building?"

"Never," he shook his head.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, "well there's your answer. 'You can take a beast out of the wild but you can never take the wild out of the beast.' Lately I've been watching a television show of someone who worked with dogs, he says, 'you can live in the world's biggest castle; you still have to go out.' Understand? You put her in a cage and she enjoyed it for a while but she needs to get out," he stopped for a moment staring at the wall, "anything in a cage wishes nothing more then to get out." He looked at Angeal; "you should take her out, not to the plate, but out to the outlands, think of it as a mini vacation."

"What about my work?" Angeal asked, startled by what Sephiroth was proposing.

"I'll take care of it. Go, do some father daughter bonding," Sephiroth commented as Angeal stood up.

"Yes sir," the First Class saluted walking out of the room to the apartment.

A few hours later, he and Ariella were standing side by side on a hill overlooking a field fifty miles from Midgar. Ariella had changed out her hand me down sweatshirt and jeans for some shorts and a tank top so she could wear her fur gauntlets and stockings. Her reasoning was that normal clothing would snag, she'd wanted to wear her full furs but Angeal said no. He only given her the gauntlets for this, normally he kept an eye on them, the only recognition she had ever been out in the wild were the Cockatrice feathers she had permanently in her hair.

Angeal looked down at where she was examining some tracks, "why do you wear those feathers even when I told you to take them out?"

"We er… I wear them because they are the proof of adulthood. When a cub is ready to hunt for himself or herself they must kill a Cockatrice to prove themselves to the pride. If the hunt is successful then they are allowed to wear the feathers as a symbol of strength and skill in combat," she replied running her finger over the two feathers.

"Ah," the SOLDIER replied, "so it's a rite of passage?"

"Huh?" Ariella looked at him confused.

"Never mind," Angeal shook his head, "so what are we looking for?"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him down into the grass, "Cockatrice… they are skittish we must not scare them too soon. If you bring one down then you will be welcome to wear the feathers too."

He watched her for a moment, "so then what about me?"

"Keep low to the ground and don't make a sound, we'll circle around from the front, and you go for the takedown from behind." With that she crept into the tall grass disappearing.

Angeal shook his head, this father daughter bonding stuff was harder then he thought. He carefully started creeping through the grass behind the group of blue and white birds; this was completely different from his normal animal encounters. He carefully came up behind one of the birds, the bird looked up startled right at Angeal, but it was looking over his head. It let out a squawk and all of the flock immediately bolted. He stood up watching them run off; he hadn't startled them, had he? However at that moment the sky directly overhead turned dark, even though there were no clouds in the sky. He rolled out of the way, feeling a long white fang graze his shoulder; he looked up seeing a Midgar Zolom hissing at him.

He touched the wound on his arm, it didn't inject venom like a normal snake, and rather then the fangs acting like a pair of hypodermic needles it coated its fangs in saliva so even if it grazed any part of its prey then it was guaranteed to kill. Angeal leaped back as the Zolom stuck again, he leaned against the low tree clutching his arm, and the venom was already causing him to get a fever. He slumped to the ground struggling to keep his eyes open and focused, where was Ariella? A moment later he felt himself blacking out despite his best efforts, his eyes started to lose focus, though he thought he saw Ariella sitting in front of him. He swore her eyes had changed colors, no longer blue and green but gold and silver, but he dismissed it on the fever taking its toll on his body. She leaned forward by his ear, "sleep now…" His eyes drooped and he fell asleep, the sound of a roar filling his ears as he did so, as he drifted into unconsciousness he began to dream.

_I was back home, Banora, that was the town, my hometown; it was my first time being back since I joined SOLDIER. Genesis and I were taking our first vacation back home, "come on Angeal you slow poke!" Genesis called running up the path lined with apple trees._

"_Aww come on Genesis wait up!" I yelled back running after him._

"_No way! You snooze you lose!" he called back as we reached the edge of town._

_I laughed as we ran to the middle of town, "not fair you got a head start."_

"'_He who strikes first wins,'" Genesis quoted what we'd had drilled into our heads._

_I punched him in the arm, "you're full of it."_

_Just then one of the doors near the town square opened, "Angeal? Genesis? Is that you?"_

_I spun around seeing my mother standing there smiling, "hi Mom." I ran over giving her a hug._

"_Hi Mrs. Hewley," Genesis smiled at her also walking over._

"_Oh Genesis, good to see you too," she let me go and hugged him. "Come in, come in, and let me get a look at you." She let go of Genesis and hurried us inside, "Now let me get a look at you." She put her hand on my face turning it, "you're growing a beard. I like it." She moved onto Genesis and continued the process of looking us over, "you've both grown up since the last time I saw you, and I bet you're batting the suitors away with a stick!"_

_I turned red, "Mom! Not in front of Genesis!"_

_She smiled at me, "oh Angeal, you're too serious, you won't ever fall in love if you're too serious!" She laughed, I felt my face get redder, "lighten up, I bet you two are hungry, I'll make you some of my special gumbo."_

_I nodded before walking into the kitchen to help her with the cooking, she was a fantastic cook and she taught me everything I knew about it. Within twenty minutes we had dinner prepared and the three of us settled down to eat. "So what's been going on here?" I asked smiling at my mother._

_She smiled, "well after the mako surge I told you about a few months ago things have been pretty quiet. Darcia and Jacob have been expecting their new child any day now, the Mayor's been on edge about it, after all when the mako accident happened we thought Darcia was dead for sure."_

_I nodded, "sweet! So do they know if it's a boy or a girl?"_

_Genesis laughed, "well it'll obviously be a boy if it can survive that!"_

_My mother smiled at Genesis with a twinkle in her eye, "I seem to recall a young boy who once lost out in a martial arts tournament to a girl."_

_Genesis turned red, "I was goin' easy on her." _

"_Course you were, Mr. Lovebird," I laughed._

"_Oh shut up," he muttered._

_I laughed at him, we talked a lot about SOLDIER until we decided to get some sleep, and Genesis and I said our good nights before heading upstairs to bed. I was in my bed with him asleep on some blankets and pillows next to me. I rolled over to look at the ceiling, "hey Genesis, you asleep?"_

"_I was," he grunted._

"_Oh well, I was just thinking, it's so good that there's a new baby on the way," I smiled watching the ceiling._

_Somewhere on the floor I heard Genesis sigh, "You're such a softie. I swear if you didn't have me around then you'd be hopeless. Good night," within a minute I heard his familiar snoring._

_I sighed shaking my head and rolling over to go to sleep. It was about three in the morning when I started to wake up hearing roaring and snarling…._

"Angeal… Angeal… Angeal!" someone was shouting at him.

Angeal's eyes opened blearily, he closed them again as he attempted to sit up, his head collided with something and he clutched it opening one eye. Zack Fair was squatting on the floor clutching his head, Sephiroth and Lazard stood over by the wall talking. Angeal looked around the rest of the room, "where's Ariella?"

Sephiroth walked over to the bed forcing Angeal back, "take it easy, that was a sizable dose of Zolom venom."

Angeal looked up at Sephiroth, "where's Ariella?" He repeated.

Sephiroth stepped back as Lazard came over, "Angeal there's something you need to see. I managed to steal these from the Turks."

He held up a stack of photographs handing them to Angeal, the SOLDIER flicked through them, the first held the Midgar Zolom completely torn apart, the next several revealed the extent of the damage. It was the next few that interested him, a trail of hand and foot tracks that from the size comparison ruler in the picture seemed to belong to Ariella. He set the photos down watching the ceiling, "which way did these tracks go?"

"Back towards Midgar, the perimeter security cameras registered her entering the slums at about one in the morning Tuesday," Lazard replied.

"Wait… what day is this?" Angeal asked.

"Wednesday the twenty-fourth, you've been out for over a week," Zack stood up having recovered from his injury.

Angeal stared at the floor, he wasn't sure which would have been worst, having her body turn up in the Zolom or finding out she was in the slums. The slums were an underground monster in its own right; they were full of drug addicts, alcoholics, and people who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of a small girl. However Ariella was a smart girl, she wouldn't be caught so easily, though she could be injured and in even more danger. He sprang out of bed in a way most people who had just been poisoned over a week ago would not. "We need to find her!"

Lazard nodded, "we've been sending divisions out daily, and Reno attempted to force Tseng into the Turks looking for her too when he found out she was missing."

"How did Reno find out?" Angeal asked looking at Lazard.

"How do Turks find out anything? I've learned never to question Turks information," Lazard replied pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Angeal glanced between Sephiroth and Lazard, "with your permission I would like to go look for her."

"Fine but I'm going with you," Sephiroth commented standing up.

Zack was bouncing up and down, "can I come too? I'll behave I swear!"

Angeal smiled shaking his head, "all right then puppy. Operation recover Ariella is now under way."


	6. Flor Obscuro

Disclaimer: My ownership is zero.

Sephiroth looked around the room, he knew Angeal was a very mellow guy but if something set him off then nothing on Gaia would stop him. "Listen up, we're performing search and rescue in the slums, I want to avoid any unnecessary deaths, saves on my pile of paperwork." There was a slight chuckle from the group, "we're going to search them with a fine tooth comb, and we are not going to stop until we find her. You have your squad assignments, once you've completed your sweeps report back to base. Dismissed!"

Angeal walked forward as the crowd of SOLDIERs dispersed, "General, I don't know how to thank you for this."

"You can thank me after we find her," Sephiroth replied as the pair walked over to their squad. Angeal's hands were clenched in fists, his fingernails dug into the skin, Sephiroth glanced at Angeal, "we'll get her back, I promise."

Angeal nodded as he continued on to give their squad orders, Lazard walked up behind Sephiroth, "when did you become the sentimental type?"

Sephiroth glared at Lazard before relaxing, "a wise man once said I should invest myself in something."

Lazard pushed his glasses up his nose, "emotional investment… hmm…"

A few hours later the squads were heading down to the slums preparing to search for Ariella. Nate Jackson smirked at his friends, "just you wait you stupid damn brat. You'll get what you deserve, that I assure you."

His squad, led by Sebastian was searching Sector 4, the one closest to the direction in which Ariella was said to have entered in. Sebastian looked around the area, "we'll split up into groups of four, if you find her then call me as soon as you do."

Nate nodded with a smirk, "yes sir."

He motioned to his group, they were eager to find her, it was time someone taught her a lesson about SOLDIER. The foursome decided to search on the outskirts of the slums where the Plate ended and work their way in. One of Nate's friends, Dante smirked, he pulled away a trash can and found some of Ariella's clothing, it was a couple scraps of t-shirt but they were definitely the design in the picture they had been shown. "Hey Bossman I think we got something!"

"What is it?" Nate ran across the street to investigate.

"Her shirt, bitch can't be far away," Dante smirked.

Nate looked down the dead end alley, a box shifted in the corner, he smirked walking over and kicking it. Out tumbled Ariella, her clothing was shredded; she was covered in mud, sporting several open wounds. Her skin despite the dirt was ivory pale but she was sweating with her cheeks a bright red. However despite all that she was managing her best dirty look at the Second Class SOLDIERs.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," Nate laughed. "I still owe you for humiliating the shit out of me the last time we met."

Ariella said nothing but backed up towards the end of the alley, it was an old wooden plank fence. Her foot touched one of the boards feeling it tilt slightly, she could barely see but she could tell by voice and scent where Nate and his flunkies were. Nate smirked, cracking his knuckles, "not so tough without your mommy are you."

He walked forward, Ariella shoved her foot into the loose board as hard as she could, it swung forward smashing Nate square on the head. He keeled over unconscious, Dante was shocked that Nate went down so easily; Ariella slipped through the opening in the planks and leaned up against the building, as it swung shut. She bought herself a little time but it wasn't a whole lot, she coughed falling on the ground spitting out the blood. She forced herself to start crawling away from the alley, a short ways off she smelled flowers, flowers meant roots, and roots meant medicine.

She staggered away from the alley following her instincts and nose, unfortunately her dull eyesight neglected to show the stairs leading up to the source of the smell. She tripped blacking out as her head hit the cement, blood trickling from her mouth and fingers.

Xxxxxxxxxx

On the other side of the slums Angeal sighed, "Where is she?"

"We'll find her, I promise," Sephiroth replied.

Angeal nodded, they walked towards a large church, and since they were searching Sector 5 and this was the only place they hadn't checked. The first thing they noticed as they approached, the stairs leading to the door were covered in blood. Sephiroth walked over and touched two fingers to the blood bringing it up to eye level smelling it carefully watching it. "Angeal, have you ever had her tested for the presence of mako in her system?"

Angeal stared at Sephiroth, "what are you saying Seph?" He was refusing to believe it was Ariella's blood but if his commander said it then it must be true.

"What I'm saying is, she has mako in her system, a very high level if it's visible," Sephiroth returned Angeal's gaze with a serious look.

The color drained out of Angeal's face as he bent down dipping two fingers in the red viscous liquid scrutinizing it. Sure enough, he could see little flecks of red glowing among the red between his fingers. At first he thought it was just the light playing tricks on his eyes, but he finally acknowledged it for what it was, stagnant mako. This was high as far as a mako dose went, visible mako in the blood was only something seen in the First Class SOLDIERs with high levels. He swallowed, it certainly explained a lot, a hell of a lot. The unusual eye color, the abnormal strength, but it still left a lot of mysteries. Stagnant mako caused mutations, mental degeneration, and a whole host of other side effects.

Angeal felt a lump in his throat, swallowing he looked at Sephiroth, "then that Zolom…"

"That's right. There's no creature able to take on a Zolom in the wild, and the way it was decimated…" Sephiroth stood up looking at the church, "check in there, I'm going to look around out here."

Angeal swallowed again nodding, he clenched the hand with the blood in it, if Ariella was dead then… He shook his head dispelling the thought almost right away. She was alive, he could feel it in his gut, Ariella was his girl, and she wouldn't die so easily. He pushed open the door closing it behind him gazing around at the area before him. The church had two rows of wooden pews forming an aisle from the door to the far end of the church. However rather then an alter, a flowerbed basked in the gentle sun's rays, the flowers varying between gold and white. For a fleeting moment he wanted his camera so he could try and capture the beauty of the place.

His boots made a dull thud on the floor as he crossed the room to get a better look at the flowers. He stopped halfway down the aisle, noticing the little blood drops along the floor; he swiped it seeing the stagnant mako swirling in it. Ariella definitely passed through here, he continued on to the end of the aisle seeing no other trace of a person in there. He knelt down next to the flowerbed pulling his gloves off and touching the petals of the closest flower gently.

"To live in such a cruel place yet to be so strong you truly are marvelous," Angeal muttered to himself smiling slightly.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Angeal looked up over his shoulder to see a young girl in a blue and white dress, her light brown hair pulled back into a twist. Her emerald green eyes watched him cautiously.

He stood up hastily and backed away from the flowers putting a hand behind his head smiling at her. "My apologies, I didn't realize that I was trespassing."

"Oh that's fine as long as the flowers are fine," she replied crossing the room and knelt down next to the flowers. "I wonder, are you happy now that you have company?"

She reached out touching one of the flowers gently, Angeal knelt down next to her, "I see you like flowers."

"They're nice and they like you too," she replied, "so who are you?"

"Oh Angeal Hewley, and you?" He introduced politely.

"Aerith Gainsborough, so why are you here?" She answered turning her attention to him.

He reached out for one of the flowers gently, "I'm looking for someone, she's about twelve, with eyes that are two different colors and black hair with a read streak down the middle. Have you seen her?"

Aerith eyed him carefully, "why are you looking for her?"

Angeal met her eyes, "because she's my daughter."

She stood up watching him cautiously, "I know where she is."

Angeal's face lit up, "could you take me to see her please?"

Aerith nodded smiling, "but you must promise to not tell anyone about where we go okay?"

He nodded and followed her out of the church through a small door near the flowerbed; they walked out a door through the back room and across the street to a house with a lot of flowers and clear water. "This is beautiful, is this your house?"

She smiled jogging up to the door, "sure is!" She opened the door, "Mom, I'm home!" Wandering inside she picked up a note. Angeal followed her in gazing around the room curiously, there were potted plants and books scattered around. He smiled slightly; it must be nice to come home to this every day. He picked up a picture on the table and examined it; "my mom went out shopping so come on, I'll take you to your daughter."

Angeal put the picture down and followed Aerith upstairs; she opened the door to a bedroom. He walked in, Ariella was lying unconscious in bed, and he felt relieved seeing her alive, "she's alive."

"I found her unconscious on the stairs of the church a few hours ago, for her father you're pretty irresponsible," Aerith scolded.

Angeal bit his lip, "I know… I'm just glad she's alive."

"She was poisoned by a Midgar Zolom, fortunately the flowers in the church wanted to help," she smiled.

"Thank you Ms. Gainsborough, I don't know how to repay you. You saved Ari's life," Angeal smiled at her.

She smiled back, "no problem. I was happy to help; I'll give you some more medicine. You should apply it to the wounds on her side in another hour."

Angeal nodded picking up Ariella out of the bed, "I thank you for all of your assistance. Here," he reached into his pocket for a pen and paper writing down a number and handing it to Aerith, "my number, I'll be in touch if her symptoms change."

Aerith took it, "I'm no doctor, and I just know some stuff about medicine is all."

"That may be," Angeal countered, "but you're the only one I'm willing to trust my daughter to, good bye Aerith Gainsborough, last of the Cetra, may our paths cross again some day. And for the answers you seek I recommend going to Cosmo Canyon if you ever get the chance." He smiled as they stood by the door of her house. "Take care of yourself."

Aerith watched Angeal piggy back Ariella away, clutching the number. How did he know she was a Cetra? She clutched the paper to her chest walking back inside, he was right when he said she was looking for answers. She glanced back as the breeze kicked up a little and she smiled, "so that's it huh? Sometimes I wonder if you're really telling me the truth, but either way if you're right then we'll meet again."

Half an hour after leaving Angeal stood with Sephiroth outside of the Shin-Ra building's front door. "I'm not saying that I like the man and I am sure as hell not putting Ariella through more stress." Angeal snapped at his superior.

"I know that but he's the only one who can perform treatment of this caliber on someone like us," Sephiroth countered as they entered the elevator.

"Yes but leaving him to treat her, I'd sooner bite off my own tongue signing her certificate of death," Angeal's eyes flashed with mako.

"We have no choice, we can get the blood sampling we need done on her. As much as I hate him he's the only one who can access the necessary equipment," Sephiroth replied as the elevator doors opened to floor 65.

A young man in a lab coat looked up, "General Sephiroth! What are you doing here?"

"Relax Aaron, we're looking for Hojo," Sephiroth replied.


	7. Memoria Miserabila

Angeal was chewing on the inside of his cheek; it was all he could do to stop himself from punching the man in front of him. Professor Hojo, the head of the scientific department, had started extracting blood samples from Ariella. He drew about half a dozen vials before glaring at Angeal, "I don't see why you felt the need to be in here."

"Because I have a parental responsibility to protect her," Angeal replied curtly.

"Sentimentality, that's what I hated about Hollander," Hojo muttered as he put a small sample of blood under a microscope while four more went in a centrifuge and the last one went in cold storage.

"What?" Angeal's eyes narrowed at the back of Hojo's head.

Hojo glanced back at Angeal, "nothing that concerns you, oh wait I forgot." He sneered and put his eye to the microscope. "Ah… something I have not seen since _that_ failed experiment."

"What?" Angeal snapped.

Hojo sneered again, "a part of _that _woman's thesis."

"What do you mean?!" Angeal grabbed Hojo and slammed him up against the nearest wall.

"As if I'm going to tell you now," Hojo sneered, "she should prove an _interesting_ experiment."

"Like hell," Angeal shouted dropping Hojo and wheeling the stretcher complete with IV out of the room.

He pushed the stretcher into the elevator, discovering he was sharing with Reno and Rude, "dude what the hell happened to her?!" Reno shouted staring at the unconscious Ariella.

"Quiet Reno, you'll disrupt her recovery," Rude muttered putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Reno shook him off, "still… what happened?" He repeated glaring at Angeal.

"She's been teetering between life and death, we just found her in the slums," Angeal replied remembering his promise to Aerith.

"Oh…" Reno felt the anger drain out of him as he closed his eyes. "I… I see." The doors opened and the Turks stepped out, Reno cast a forlorned look over his shoulder while the doors closed.

Angeal looked down at the sleeping Ariella, "you wouldn't care but you've become a binding tie to a lot of people." The elevator doors opened and he pushed the stretcher into the hallway, through the SOLDIER barracks to his apartment. He stopped at the door realizing he'd reached a conundrum, he couldn't fit the stretcher through the door. He scooped up Ariella and moved her onto his back as he folded up the bed and slid it through before unfolding it and laying her back on it. It slid into his living room next to the window. He smiled, when she woke up she would be able to look outside, he sighed grabbing a book off of the shelf and fell over on the couch opening it up and reading. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, once again starting to dream.

_It was late, close to three in the morning according to the clock on my dresser; nevertheless I woke with a start. There was a commotion from the center of town; I swore it was raining even though there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. However the sense of forbidding made it feel like a typhoon was approaching. I opened the window trying to get a better sense of what was going on, the bed moved and I saw Genesis sitting on the bed next to me._

_  
Outside I could see two figures, faces hidden in the shadows, one of them looked like they were holding something. "We have to get rid of the little freak." The voice belonged to a male._

"_I don't understand how a little freak could have come from this," the other, a woman, muttered._

_They walked away from the center of town, I looked over at Genesis, "what do you think that was about?"_

_He shrugged, "wanna find out?"_

_I smiled as our fists collided, "naturally."_

_We walked down the stairs and had almost reached the front door when, "where do you two think you're going?"_

_I spun around seeing my mother standing there, "um hi Mom, nowhere…"_

"_It's three in the morning, when you say nothing it means something, now be honest." She folded her arms giving me her 'you better tell the truth' look that seemed commonplace with mothers._

"_We heard a commotion outside, it sounded like someone was going to do something," I replied honestly._

"_Alright then, go, both of you, do what you need to do, but come back before breakfast or you'll be in trouble," she smiled at us._

_Genesis laughed, "don't worry, we'll be back, come on Angy."_

"_How many times have I told you not to call me that," I growled as we ran out into the night._

_Genesis didn't reply but merely smirked as we stood behind a couple of trees listening for any information. The two they'd been following stood by a car talking, "I… I think I'm going to go back…" One of the voices, the woman's, cracked._

_The man made a crooning noise, "aww come on, you don't seriously think it loves you do you? It's nothing but a monster. When we get back no one will know, no one will hate us, we'll be normal."_

"_You're right, we can always try again and have one be perfect. They'll never know about this monstrosity, let's go," she moved around the car and shut the door._

"_Yeah and no one will ever know this freak exists," the car's engine started and we heard it thunder off through the distance._

_When the noise faded I looked over at Genesis feeling my stomach clench, "that was… Darcia and Jacob…"_

_He wasn't looking much better then I felt, "that's just sick. It's just a baby, how can they know it's a monster?"_

_I sat there silently wiping off my face, I didn't care if Sephiroth had said crying made me weak, he was hardly older then I was anyway. I blinked trying to clear up my vision, "hey Genesis, what makes a monster?"_

_He leaned up against a tree thinking, "A monster is someone who has given up on their dreams and hope, someone who cares only about destroying everything. That's what I think anyway."_

_I wiped my cheek off again, "s-so someone who's never had dreams…"_

"_Can't be a monster, I don't think someone can be born a monster, monsters have to be born through living, someone who hasn't had the chance to live can't be a monster," he watched me, "you're not crying, are ya Angy?"_

"_No. Er… yeah… but if you tell General Sephiroth then I'm gonna kill you," I replied wiping my face off hastily._

_To my surprise he put a hand on my shoulder, "it's okay, you're crying for the sake of that little baby. Someone who can care about someone they don't know is a truly good person. Come on you wimp, let's go back I'm sleepy," Genesis punched me in the back._

_I nodded smiling starting to head back but we stopped cold at the sound of a car engine. It parked outside of town, the two people got out, both laughing and embracing as they walked back towards town. "Ah and none of them will ever know!"_

"_I know, now what do you say we try again, and this time we won't be haunted by a freaky little monster." The man agreed as they walked away, footsteps fading into the night._

_Half of me wanted to run over there and slug them, the other half wanted to curl up and cry. Genesis wrapped an arm around my shoulders and put his head against one of them, "you really are too soft Angy, now lets go home. I'm sleepy."_

"Hey Angeal! Angeal! Morning Angeal!" someone was screaming in his ear.

Angeal sat up and for the second time slammed into Zack Fair, "urg… why must you keep doing that Zack?"

"You were muttering in your sleep, and you left the door wide open," Zack replied.

"Oh I see… so why did you come in here?" Angeal rubbed his forehead looking over past Zack to where Ariella was still asleep. She hadn't moved since he fell asleep though he winced seeing the blood starting to flow up the empty IV.

"Well General wanted me to let you know Hojo gave him some lab results, well more like Aaron and Jenkins snuck them out," Zack replied.

Angeal nodded, Aaron and Jenkins were two of Hojo's senior staff and they hated their superior with a passion. "What did they say?"

Zack shrugged, "dunno, General just said to go see him."

"Alright then, Fair, do me a favor and keep an eye on Ari," Angeal commented standing up and heading for the door. "And while you're at it get some more medical supplies and let me know if she wakes up."

Zack sprang to a salute, "yes sir!"

Angeal walked down the maze of corridors to Sephiroth's office and knocked, "enter," Sephiroth's voice came through the thick wood. The silver haired SOLDIER looked up from his paperwork, "Angeal, how is she?"

"Still unconscious," he sighed dismally. He walked in and moved some files off of the chair gazing around the disarray in the office. Files were everywhere, Angeal felt a small pang of sadness at the paperwork, and it was his fault Sephiroth had lost so much time on his work. If cleanliness was close to godliness it was furthest from hero.

"I see," Sephiroth replied, "I received Hojo's lab results from the two reliable ones," he held up the file he'd been examining. "I think you will want to read this."

Angeal took the file and opened it reading through it, face paling as he did so. "This can't be right… she's just a little kid…"

Sephiroth's features darkened, "I'm not positive but I've never known much about stagnant mako cases. The library should have some more information on it, after all Hojo wasn't the only scientist researching mako."

Angeal nodded standing up, "I understand, with your permission I'd like to go down there and check out that research."

"Permission granted, if you're lucky you may find the answers you want," Sephiroth replied.

Angeal nodded standing up and leaving the office, he walked rapidly to the elevator and took it to the record level. He walked into the scientific records gazing at the titles heading close to the end. "Sta…stag…stagnant mako!" He was surprised by the lack of reading on the subject, just three books, all by the same author, one G. Valentine. He pulled one off of the shelf, titled "Creatures Born of the Lifestream".

At that moment Zack burst in through the door, "Angeal! Angeal! Angeal!"

"What?!" He looked up startled from the book.

"Ari! I went to go get some more bandages and when I came back she was gone, stretcher and all. When I came back the place stank like stale formaldehyde!" Zack shouted.

"Hojo…" Angeal muttered standing up. "Get Sephiroth, we're getting Ari back."

Zack ran out of the library heading for the elevator followed by Angeal, the doors opened and the pair split up. Angeal ran back to his apartment finding that what Zack said was true; he clenched his fist slamming it against the wall. He set the book on the table and grabbed the Buster Sword sticking it onto the high-powered magnet on his back. He turned slamming the door shut, his eyes flashing with mako.


	8. Miles Vincit

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Into the Ocean belongs to Blue October and Rise belongs to Origa. Miles - Soldier, Vincit - Conquers.

**A/N I decided to throw in some music to fit the mood, you can look up these songs on iTunes for the full version. Also from now on I will put the chapter title translation in the disclaimer.**

The General, Lazard, and Angeal, walked out of elevator looking more like a storm then a contingent of the three highest-ranking SOLDIER officers. They were heading right for the laboratory; Jenkins looked up so started he lost his beret and stooped hastily to catch it. "Oh…er Ge-General, Co-Commander, Vi-Vice Co-Commander, in-nice to see you!"

"We don't have time for pleasantries, where's Hojo?" Sephiroth demanded.

"He said he was heading to the lower levels today to check on some of his projects, I haven't seen him since early this morning!" Jenkins replied hastily.

"When can we see him?" Angeal replied, his face a mask of stone, his eyes flashing his anger.

"I, he didn't say when he was coming back!" Jenkins replied shrinking back against the file drawer. "It takes Executive clearance to get into the Underground Laboratory!"

Lazard stopped Sephiroth from advancing with a hand, "I think we'll leave this for later, we'll be on our way." He pushed the two SOLDIERs to the elevators, forcing them in. "Wait, we'll go talk to the Executive of the Department and see what he says."

Five minutes later they were in the office of Reeve Tuesti, head of the Urban Development and Executive SOLDIER's command fell under. "Lazard, Sephiroth, Angeal, I wasn't expecting to see you. What's going on? I haven't talked with you since the Annual Staff Review."

"We need to get Executive clearance to the Underground Laboratory," Lazard replied.

Reeve sighed and shrugged apologetically, "I'm sorry Lazard, but access to the lower areas is controlled by Hojo. I can put in a request and if you're lucky then in a few weeks you may get a restricted access pass to the lower levels."

Angeal's eyes flashed green, "that's not good enough! My daughter was taken out of my room and I have no idea if she's still alive or what condition she's in!"

Reeve watched as Sephiroth placed a hand on Angeal's shoulders restricting him from advancing any further. "We understand, is there any way that you could get that pass for us?"

The head of Urban Development nodded, "I'll see what I can do. Mr. Hewley, I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to see your daughter returned safe."

"Thank you Mr. Tuesti," Angeal nodded before turning and leaving the office.

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help," Reeve apologized to the other two, eyes downcast.

"It's okay Reeve, just do what you can," Lazard replied. He looked over at the door, "I can't imagine how hard it is on him right now. Knowing his daughter's been kidnapped but being unable to do anything to save her after she went missing."

Sephiroth sighed, "He needs to cool off if he wants to be of any good to Ariella."

Reeve watched them, "I'll do what I can, and if we're lucky I can get that pass in a few days.

"But why not sneak down there?" Sephiroth asked

"Because the security to get in is the most advanced, no two people know all the access codes, only Hojo would know," Reeve replied. "Even then some of the codes are secrets within secrets. Not to mention if you broke in you could never get out."

The pair of SOLDIER leaders looked back at Reeve, "how did you find out so much?"

"I didn't become an Executive by being oblivious." Reeve winked, "I assure you I'll get that pass one way or the other."

"Thank you," Lazard nodded and he and Sephiroth left.

Reeve slid his chair back and opened up a door, out popped a little grey and white cat with brown boots, white gloves and a red cloak. A gold crown atop his head, "time to wake up my friend, we have worked to do."

Cait Sith looked up at Reeve, "I was wonderin' when ye'd get around to it!"

"Now's not the time to be mean my friend, we have work to do, can you get in there or not?" Reeve asked the cat.

"Jes' leave it ta me!" The cat gave him thumbs up.

Outside of the office Sephiroth pulled Angeal into the elevator, "damn it, just give me the chance to go down there!"

"Not with that attitude, if you rush in there unprepared you're going to put your own life in danger as well as Ariella's." Sephiroth countered, "Now if you're finished arguing we'll have to wait for Reeve to take care of that pass so we can gain access to the lower levels and find Ariella. Until then you have a job to do."

Angeal gnashed his teeth and bit his tongue, "I understand… I just… she's important to me…" he felt the anger draining out of him at the thought of Ariella looking up at him so innocently as they sat around on the couch watching a show on the process of forging katanas. She was smiling at him; she was the sweetest kid he had ever met.

"Listen we got a call saying there was some unwanted activity in Junon. You can go down there and vent some frustration there; meanwhile we're going to stay here. We'll pull you off of it as soon as we get the pass, then we can save Ariella." Lazard commented.

Angeal felt the fury coming back again but swallowed it, "sir with all due respect, may I stay here, I'm worried about Ariella, I would like to be confined to quarters before I do something rash."

Sephiroth eyed him carefully, "if you can behave then you are hereby confined to quarters until we get that permit."

Angeal nodded as they reached Floor 49, "thank you, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to fulfill my newest orders." He sighed and walked back to his apartment setting the Buster Sword against the wall next to his claymore before crashing onto the couch face down, he buried his face in his pillow. He felt sick, he hadn't felt this bad in years, not since Genesis left during the war with Wutai. "If you were here then you'd cuff me in the head, call me an idiot and say, 'If a map is unreliable burn it, if there's no door make your own, screw the damn world and bend it to your will.' Right Genesis?"

"You idiot," Angeal winced as something hit him on the back of the head. " 'If a map is unreliable burn it, if there's no door make your own, screw the damn world and bend it to your will." An all to familiar voice spoke.

Angeal sat up with a start; there in the flesh was Genesis Rhapsodos, looking the same as ever. Auburn hair thrown in its usual part, his blue mako eyes scanning the pages of his copy of Loveless, he looked up at Angeal and smiled, "long time no see Angy."

"Genesis!" Angeal shouted standing up and gazing at his old friend. Just to be sure he was real the SOLDIER reached out and grabbed Genesis by the cheeks giving them a firm tug to make sure he really was there. "It's really you!"

"Geez Angy, you are getting on my nerves, it's really me," he replied putting his book away.

"What? Why? When? How did you get here?" Angeal was confused; he hadn't seen his friend in years. He knew Genesis had disappeared in Wutai but this was the last place he had expected to see him.

"Long story for another time," Genesis replied ruffling Angeal's hair, "I can see you haven't changed. Once a wimp always a wimp, I mean really someone who you care for is in danger and you're just sitting here feeling sorry for yourself."

Angeal pushed his friend's hand away, "shut up, I'm not sitting here feeling sorry for myself."

Genesis lost his playful tone, "you disgust me. You really think that you can just sit here and wait don't you." In the time he was talking Genesis had pinned him up against the wall annoyed at his former friend.

Angeal glared at him, "if I had my way I would be down there right now saving her. But the way down takes a required access pass."

"I see, you really are hopeless after all, but it would seem you've grown up since the last time we saw each other," Genesis smirked, "alright then Angeal, I'm willing to help. Since you're my best friend and it just so happens I have a pass all my own."

"How did you get it?" Angeal asked.

Genesis laughed, "Does it matter?" His voice dropped, "think about it, don't you want to see your daughter again?"

Angeal dropped his gaze, "after seeing you again, I would like her to meet you."

"Feh," Genesis sighed, Angeal's memory went fuzzy after that caught up in a whirlwind of moments and emotions resulting in him blacking out.

Angeal felt his eyelids droop and he drifted off, when he woke up he was alone in bed, one hand clutching a key card. He felt a tear roll down his cheek, "why do you always leave me when I need you most?"

He stood up staggering into the shower, key card resting peacefully on the nightstand; he pressed his forehead against the wall. There was no indication whatsoever that Genesis had been there, except for the key card and Angeal's memories. This was just like before, everyone he cared about dripping through his fingers into the drain of despair. He was trying to catch smoke with his bare hand when he tried to protect someone, at least that was how he felt with the people he cared about. He failed Genesis and now he was running the risk of losing Ariella too.

He cleaned himself off and shut the shower off walking to his closet and pulling on some boxers and jeans. He sat down on the couch before standing up again, walking over to the radio and turning it on. He wanted quiet initially but shortly after decided it was getting to be too much of a nuisance to have the room quiet.

'I'm just a normal boy that sank when I fell overboard…' He fell over onto the couch, 'my ship would leave the country but I'd rather swim ashore…' Angeal rolled over and stared the ceiling, 'without a life vest I'd be stuck again… wish I was much more masculine…' the shadows seemed to be dancing and mocking him up there. 'Maybe then I could learn to swim like fourteen miles away…' He growled frustrated glaring at them, 'Now floating up and down I spin colliding into sound…' He was getting frustrated with the music. Standing up he walked over to the radio and changed the station.

'I'm a soldier, meaning that I'm both the defendant and the judge I'm standing on both sides of the fire. Going around turns, overtaking death and life I'm running to fight with the shadow of a lie. No matter how many threads deception would weave truth will show its face of light.'

Angeal started to head back towards the couch as the song started into the chorus after it completed the first verse.

'Save your tears for the day when our pain is far behind on your feet come with me we are soldiers stand or die. Save your fears take your place save them for the judgment day fast and free follow me time to make the sacrifice we rise or fall'

He recognized the song; he stopped cold, all this time he'd been getting worked up and forgetting who he was. He was a SOLDIER, and not just any sort of SOLDIER, he was SOLDIER First Class. Angeal was best of the best, all this time he'd been thinking about what he couldn't do. He ran into the closet changing out into his combat outfit, he grabbed his knife, claymore and Buster Sword. This wasn't the time for him to be sitting around doing nothing, this was his chance to save Ariella and protect her. She needed him right now.

"I'm a SOLDIER, and that will never change," Angeal muttered walking towards the door as the song continued playing.

Outside on the balcony, a lone figure in red stood there watching him leave, "now will you accept it and join me or reject it and die? Either way you'll both be mine in the end."

Angeal walked down the hall to the elevator and started on the long trek through the building to the Underground Laboratory and Ariella.


	9. Nivei Pennae

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, sorry. Nivei - white, Pennae - wings.

Angeal walked to the elevator and stopped, the security cameras would be recording him even now. He watched the elevator come up, sighing, if he ducked out and took the stairs then they would think something was up. Maybe if he planned this carefully then he could slip out without arousing suspicion, he hit the button for floor 48 before looking around the cart.

Fortunately he was taking today's trip alone, if Sephiroth was here he'd be tried for insubordination. Not to mention he'd have to explain something about where he got the keycard, and he had a hunch his commander wouldn't be thrilled if he said something about Genesis. The elevator doors opened and he walked out heading for the training room waiting outside pretending to work the electronic lock waiting for the camera to sweep. The camera behind him swiveled and pointed away from him and he took off at a sprint as the door opened sliding shut as the camera focused on it. By that time Angeal was already at the stairs watching intently for the camera guarding the stairs to move. It swept away from the door, Angeal darted forward and shut the door quietly, and the camera hadn't noticed anything. He sighed, now he had to go down who knows how many floors worth of stairs, shaking off the hopelessness he started his decent.

Back upstairs Sephiroth, Lazard and Reeve were all making their way to Angeal's apartment with a keycard for access to the lab. It had taken a while but when Reeve and Lazard had made their speeches, accompanied by murderous looks from Sephiroth, the other Executives with the exception of Hojo agreed.

Sephiroth walked up to the door of Angeal's apartment hearing the radio blasting, "Angeal we have the card." He knocked. There was no reply, "Angeal! Open up!" The only thing Sephiroth could hear was the radio. He stepped back preparing to ram the door open.

Lazard pushed on the handle, the door swung open a little, "it's open."

Sephiroth blinked, that wasn't like Angeal, even if he was home he kept his door locked, the General pushed the door open all the way looking around. The balcony window door stood cracked open, Angeal didn't appear to be in the room, Sephiroth immediately ran over to the balcony door flinging it open and running over to the railing. "It all makes sense, he was a wreck after Genesis disappeared he went into total suicidal despair after losing Ari and jumped off the balcony." He muttered scanning the ground for a body.

Lazard sighed, "I think you're overreacting. If he did why did he take all his combat gear with him?"

"How would I know?" Sephiroth replied.

Reeve shook his head walking over to the pair, "okay so he's missing. However I have a feeling he went to the Training rooms to let off some steam."

"How do you know?" Sephiroth asked.

"Security camera reports showed him entering the area," Reeve replied.

Sephiroth just about smacked himself in the forehead, "of course he wanted us to think that and started down by himself!"

Lazard pushed his glasses up his nose, "it certainly makes more sense then him jumping to his death." He sighed, "take the keycard and try to intercept him from doing something stupid."

Sephiroth took the card and nodded, "right…" he strode out of the room, "damn you Angeal, why is it you never talk to me anymore? If Genesis was here you would go to him then you'd both come to me. What happened?" He folded his arms closing his eyes as he walked over to elevator and leaned against the wall of the car.

Downstairs though, Angeal managed to hold back a sneeze remembering something his mother once told him. 'If you sneeze then it means someone's talking about you behind your back.' He sighed, glancing around the camera was on the move, he darted across the hall and sighed, he hated having to dart around like a rat. He'd made it below the levels of the Plate and potentially even the slums, no one knew just how far down the Shin-Ra building went except for a few people.

He walked up to the bulk doors pulling the keycard Genesis gave him out of his pocket and sliding it through the reader. However it wasn't the door in front of him that opened it was the wall to his right that opened. Behind it was a long white hall that looked way too clean for comfort he slipped into it hearing the wall slam shut behind him. Turning around he checked around the door, there was no way to go back now. He saw someone standing at the end of the hall as he turned around.

"Genesis!" He ran down the hallway to the man in red standing there.

Genesis looked up as Angeal came running up to him, "so you made it?"

Angeal gazed around the hall, "where are we?"

"Half a mile under the Shin-Ra building," he walked over to the dead end of the hall, "we're taking the back door in."

Angeal watched as door opened up revealing a very different area; it looked like a whole city under the city. They walked out onto a rocky cliff overlooking a street with a clear view of the city. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the Underground Lab my friend," Genesis replied.

Angeal felt his eyes going wide as he looked around, the city had collapsed buildings and looked as though someone had a complete disregard for habitation. In the middle stood a huge mako reactor labeled 00. "Mako Reactor 0, I thought it wasn't supposed to exist…" He looked around examining the ruined city, "where's Ariella?"

He noticed Genesis was nowhere to be found, he sighed, "why don't you ever tell me where you're going? What is it you want me to do?" He had half a mind to chase after Genesis but shook his head, Ariella was really close now and there was no turning back.

Taking off at a run he leaped up onto a roof of a nearby building built into the cliff. He took off leaping across to the next roof stopping as he saw some people in outfits of grey with electric blue lines standing around below. Crouching down he started to listen to what they were saying hoping for some information.

"Hey did you hear about the new member of Alpha Division they brought in the other day?" One said.

"Nah I didn't you Kenny?" The second looked over at the remaining one named Kenny.

The one called Kenny nodded, "Yeah, they said the kid's a host to one of the legendary monsters. I didn't believe it until I saw her take the full nine from the Emperor. She didn't flinch at all, but her eyes were all crazy one was gold and the other was silver but when he finished her eyes were blue and green. Then he threw her back in the Zoo."

"Dude, what'd she do to get full nine?" the second one asked.

"I heard she killed a Restrictor, with one hand," Kenny replied.

The first shook his head, "no I heard it was because she tried to escape."

"Wow, I sure would hate to see what would happen if she became my superior," the second one shuddered. The two unknowns stood up to continue their patrol leaving Kenny alone.

Angeal leaped off of the building and grabbed Kenny by the throat, "where's the Zoo?"

"Ah ne-near the Reactor, ya can't miss it!" He choked.

Angeal squeezed his neck hard enough to stop the flow of blood to his brain for a moment before leaping back up to the roofs and taking off leaving Kenny's unconscious body behind. He looked around before hearing roaring from a distance and an explosion erupting from the city.

"Well, well, well, it's been awhile since I saw a Terra SOLDIER, how are you doing Angeal?" A voice behind him spoke.

Angeal stopped cold, it was a voice he hadn't heard since Wutai, the second in command of Squad 14 of SOLDIER, "Dante, it's been a long time."

Dante Kobold stood there robed in black, pulling off his mask, "been a long time my ass, you didn't care about our disappearance. You were too concerned about your precious Genesis."

Angeal drew his claymore and pointed it at Dante, "shut up."

"What's a matter? Touch a nerve did I? Pathetic, you still can't let got of the past can you. Face it you lost your best friend through your own mistakes, he'll never forgive you for letting him go." Dante smirked.

Angeal clenched his fists tighter, "I said shut up."

Dante raised a hand up putting the second knuckle of his pointer finger on his right hand up to his mouth, "touchy aren't we? You're pathetic, you couldn't stop Genesis and so you decided to adopt a little brat in an attempt to make amends. And you couldn't even protect her. I don't know how you live with yourself, who's next? Sephiroth? Lazard? Your family?"

Angeal's eyes started mako glowing as charged Dante, "I thought I told you to shut up!"

Dante stopped his swing with two fingers, "temper, temper I wouldn't have expected you to behave so rashly. You always preached that anger in combat was the fastest way to get your head lopped off. I heard that speech so many times I could puke. Now look at you, you hypocrite, here you are preaching pretty words about how anger leads to reckless decisions and clouded judgment when you're standing here with just that problem. Not to mention you always preached pretty words about how not to let someone fall into enemy hands. Honestly you're such a contradiction."

Angeal brought up his free hand and slugged Dante as hard as he could in the nose. Dante staggered back still smirking, "I do believe you've broken my nose." He pinched it resetting it and cracking his neck. "You can't beat me, I'm a Restrictor now, we're the strongest there is and ever will be. Not even a Terra SOLDIER can beat me."

Angeal landed glaring at Dante bringing his sword hand, for him his right, up to his head before grasping the but with the left hand and setting up into a thrusting stance with the blade parallel to the ground. He ran forward stabbing at Dante, who side stepped, Angeal turned his stab into a slash and forced Dante to block with a weapon he had concealed under his cloak. It looked like a katana but it had a trigger and ammunition chamber, Dante leaped back drawing it fully, along with another one so he was duel wielding them. He noticed Angeal eyeing his weapons, "you like? They're called gunblades, all of us Restrictors use them, combining the firepower of a gun with the melee capabilities of the sword."

Angeal studied the weapons carefully, he watched as Dante raised up the right blade pointing it at him and puling the trigger. Angeal barely managed to dodge out of the way of having his head blow off and felt the bullet graze his cheek as he sidestepped. Wincing he brought up the claymore and blocked the next few rounds before taking a risk and moving into melee range. He swung at Dante's left clavicle forcing the Restrictor to block him, however Angeal's force of swing not to mention the bullet fractures in the steel along with the blocking weapon's unknown composition, broke the claymore at the point of impact.

The sword half flew up in the air before coming down and hitting Angeal along the right side of his back over his shoulder. He let out a shout of pain as Restrictor leaped back, Angeal dropped to one knee clutching his shoulder with his left hand panting. He could feel something moving inside of him longing to get out. "No, stay inside… please, I'm not a monster…" he muttered under his breath. Despite his desperate pleading, two wings came bursting out of his shoulder, one long, and the other small. Both were covered in blood but they shook off as if by a mind of their own, revealing long white feathers covering the entire length from primary to down. Angeal let out a howl of pain and despair as they sprouted from his back, "no I don't want to be a monster," he continued muttering.


	10. Maneo In Memoria

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII. Maneo In Memoria -Remains in my memory

Dante watched as the two white wings came bursting out of Angeal's back letting out a round of raucous laughter. He wiped a little blood off of his face, "this is interesting, the wings of a monster. I can see where your little girl gets her powers. A monster has monster offspring, who was the mother, a monster? Or did you manage to find someone who wasn't completely repulsed by you?"

Angeal didn't respond other then to pull the Buster Sword off of his back to accommodate his wings. He groaned as the muscles flexed, he never got used to the way they felt as they moved around stretching and contracting. That was when the impact of Dante's most recent insult sank in; he stood up letting go of his shoulder. "You can insult my friends, you can insult my rank, you can insult me, but I will never let you insult my daughter!" He roared, glaring with narrowing pupils at Dante, eyes changing from blue to a fiery shade of viridian.

Dante had a brief flash of panic cross his face before regaining his composure, "I see, so you accept you are a monster yet you won't tolerate me calling your little girl one? Interesting, alright then, show me how much of a beast you can be!" He charged at Angeal bringing both of his arms across his chest to set up a cross slash. He swung at Angeal's head, Angeal brought up the Buster Sword so the flat was facing Dante and Angeal turned so his body was behind the blade as Dante's attack connected.

Dante kicked off from the ground leaping into the air attempting a pile driver into Angeal's head. Angeal swung the Buster Sword up so that it kept Dante's gunblades locked in a crossed position before jumping and swinging his sword so it forced Dante's fists into his chest. Dante coughed and flipped in midair before landing on the ground coughing some more. Angeal beat his wings staying airborne for a moment before landing gently, "You should have several broken ribs. I recommend you forfeit before you sustain further injury. I didn't come here to fight, I came here to rescue Ariella."

"No chance of that, after all, I'm the human here, there's no way a monster can beat a human!" Dante bellowed wild-eyed.

Angeal glared at him, "I've heard enough, it's time to end this ludicrous farce."

Dante coughed but regained his overconfident smirk, "no stealing my lines." He ran forward swinging one gunblade aiming for Angeal's head, he blocked the attack holding the Buster Sword with one hand before chambering his free hand and driving it into Dante's jaw hearing the crunch of bone as his upper cut connected. Dante flew up into the air about five feet before landing, his broken jaw finally shutting him up. He glared at Angeal silently before spitting out a couple of teeth, his smirk gone. He pointed both gunblades at Angeal shooting, Angeal ducked behind the Buster Sword for protection until he heard the click of empty ammunition chambers.

"Seems like you're running out of options," Angeal commented before charging at Dante, "Omnislash!" Angeal launched into a fifteen hit combo, making sure to strike with the back or the flat of his weapon every time. He had no intention of killing Dante, just knocking him unconscious long enough to get Ariella and leave. He watched Dante's body collapse to the ground, covered in blood but he still showed signs of breathing.

Angeal watched him for a moment before sticking the Buster Sword into the ground and collapsing onto one knee clutching his shoulder panting. Pain shot through his back making the fingers on his right hand convulse, he crawled and put his back against the Buster Sword's flat and leaned back. He wanted to go after Ariella but the pain in his shoulder was making it hard. He looked up at the non existent sky closing his eyes, "I'm sorry… just give me a little while to rest."

He snapped his eyes open as he heard something, "Angeal!" Out from behind some jagged rubble came an all too familiar voice. Running at full speed he saw a red stripe in the middle of a black head, Ariella appeared out of seeming nowhere eyes closed in joy as she tackled Angeal. "Angeal…" she hugged him and rubbed her head against his shoulder in a show of emotion he hadn't seen her ever show.

"Ariella…" He glanced between her and his wings, "Ariella look at me." He put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. "Do you see what's growing out of my back?"

She looked over at his wings then back, "yes, so?"

He sighed, "Ariella, I'm not human, I'm a monster."

She looked at him shaking her head, "no you're not, and no matter how you look on the outside you're still our Angeal. I love you."

"I love you too Ari," he hugged his daughter tightly to him, folding his wings around her. He felt a tear roll down his cheek but he wiped it off.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ari started struggle, "choking not breathing!" Angeal let go smiling; she took a deep breath grinning slightly at him. "Better."

He winced clutching his shoulder as his wings retracted into his back, panting again he finally noticed what Ariella was wearing. Two elbow length arm stockings of grey with electric blue lines, which complimented her full body sleeveless suit of the same style. She had noticeably removed her shoes, "what are you wearing Ari?"

"Nero said we… er I should wear it, do you like it?" She asked him curiously.

"Something gives me the impression you've got some explaining to do," Angeal replied. "Start at the beginning."

"Well er… when we woke up I was in a bed in an unfamiliar room. Upon awakening and leaving we attempted to flee but ran into a young male, he seemed startled by this. Eventually we… I learned his name was Nero and he gave us the outfit you see us wearing. That was when Restrictor came and started the time of awakeness training, we cannot tell day from night here, so we started into training when we saw Restrictor hurting a fallen member. We had to do something so we stepped in; we ended up being punished for his mistake. When the Restrictor finished and put us in our room we were visited by a strange cat, he said you would be here along with Uncle Sephy. We snuck out and found Nero, from there we split up, Nero knows Uncle Sephy so he came to find him. We saw you fighting with Restrictor so we came over here to see you." Ariella stopped for a moment looking at the ground, "are you mad?"

Angeal put his hands on her shoulders, "I could never be mad at you. I'm just glad you're alive and alright."

She looked up at him and smiled a little, "that is a relief."

"There they are!" came a strange accent that could only belong to Cait Sith.

"Ariella!" Nero called running, his black hair bouncing, red eyes lighting up as he ran over to Ariella.

She stood up and smiled at him, "Nero, did you find Uncle Sephy?"

He nodded, "yeah he's coming was having a hard time squeezing through some of the gaps in the wall. He was too tall."

Cait Sith walked over, "ah lassie I see ye found yer dad."

Ariella looked down at Cait Sith, "thanks to you and Nero." She turned her attention back to Nero, "you're not hurt are you?" She grabbed one of his hands.

His youthful face had a blush staining it, "no… what about you? Going through Deepground like that is dangerous by yourself. What if you were attacked?"

"I'd be fine, its you I'm worried about," Ariella replied a blush also creeping up her face.

Angeal looked between the pair of twelve year olds suspiciously, _wait a moment, she was away from me for a while. Could it be these two, are going out behind my back?! The boy didn't even have the decency to ask if he could date her!_ He sighed, he was probably overreacting, and it was Ariella's first time seeing someone of her own age as far as humans went. "Ariella I think we should leave now." He stood up, sticking the Buster Sword onto his back.

Ariella nodded, "well I guess this is good bye Nero." She smiled at him slightly.

"Yeah I guess it is, would it be alright if I came up to see you?" Nero asked, his face still turning redder, he rubbed his wrists, and Angeal noticed he was wearing what looked like handcuffs.

"Yeah, would it be alright if sometimes I came down here to see you?" Ariella asked, half at Nero and half at Angeal.

Angeal sighed, they were twelve, and nothing bad could come from Ariella having a friend her own age. "I don't see why not."

Nero's red eyes lit up, "someday I want you to meet my big brother."

"There they are!" Cait Sith shouted, he'd run off to find Sephiroth, however the General was accompanied by a young man with spiky white blond hair and blue eyes, he couldn't have been older then 16 or 17. His bare chest and attitude when he walked reminded Angeal of Sephiroth, and with the SOLDIER there the comparison was easily made.

Nero let go of Ariella's hand and ran over to the unknown teenager, "Weiss! I missed you! How was your mission?"

"Fine and Nero you know who this is right?" The one called Weiss pointed at his accompaniment.

"Ge-General Sephiroth! The General Sephiroth?! You mean the Uncle Sephy…" Nero's posture straightened and he saluted at Sephiroth, his voice fading in awe.

"That's right," Sephiroth nodded, Nero's face betraying how nervous he was in front of his brother's idol. "Angeal," the SOLDIER turned away from the brothers and walked over to his Second in Command. "We need to talk."

"I understand, but sir let me explain," Angeal started but Sephiroth held up a hand to silence his protest.

"First, you deliberately disobeyed a direct order and came down here without permission. Those who disobey orders are scum," his pupils narrowed slightly, "however those who do not protect their comrades are lower then that. You found Ariella, discovered the location of several recruits I approved but never saw, and found Squad 14." Sephiroth let a small smile cross his face, "therefore your sentence for insubordination will be two week patrol in Banora."

Angeal saluted, "I understand sir, what about the cadets?"

"Weiss was approved to join several years ago but he never showed up. Apparently Hojo's been shipping our recruits down here. Anyway, I'll finish up here and will see you in two weeks." Sephiroth commented saluting. "Oh and to make sure you follow orders I'm sending Ariella with you."

He turned walking away followed by Weiss, Nero jogged after the both of them. Angeal saluted then sighed and walked over to Dante picking him up. Despite the fight the Restrictor still needed medical attention, and the best way to get it was to take him up to the main medical center, "come on Ari, let's go home."

She nodded jogging after him towards the exit of Deepground clambering over the bits of rubble. "Coming!"

From one of the roofs Genesis watched the pair; he smirked closing his eyes, one long black wing jutting from his back as he watched the two walking over to the exit. "Angeal, you've decided to go back, just as you should, and you're taking her with you just as you should. So we shall meet in Banora then, after all it's been twelve years since the last time the three of us were together. Until then, I leave him in your care Ariella." With that Genesis unfurled his wing leaping into the air and flying through a gap in the roof disappearing into the night leaving behind a few obsidian feathers floating gently to the ground.


	11. Lacuna Familia

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Lacuna Familia – Hollow family

Angeal sighed shifting his duffle bag to a more comfortable spot on his back, "welcome to Banora," he declared reaching up with his free hand and grabbing a Banora White Apple, affectionately called Stupid Apples, and handed it down to Ariella grabbing another for himself. "I have a question for you Ari, you were Wutai when we met. How did you wind up out there?"

She took a bite of her apple; "We were hunting with our family out on the beach. A storm blew in; we were washed out to sea. I and my elder sister and younger brother survived, we floated for days on end before we found land again. After that we found a place to call home and moved in."

He nodded; Mideel and the southern chunk of Wutai were typical spots for hurricanes to form. He took a bite out of his apple as they walked through town; he stopped in front of a log with a puddle near it and sat down inviting Ariella to join him. "So tell me more about your pride."

"There is not much to tell other then that, we hunted, we slept, we passed on stories, we laughed, we cried. In some ways it was not much different then what humans do," she replied watching the water in the puddle eating her apple.

He looked up at the sky, "yeah it sounds like you were happy."

"Yes well, there were issues with the neighboring prides, not to mention sometimes our hunts would not be as successful as we would have wished. What was life like for you Angeal?" She asked curiously.

He thought for a moment, "it was pretty much the same as it was for you, though not so much with the hunting bit. But I want to take you somewhere, it's time for you to see how I grew up," he ruffled her hair. "Come on I'll race you!"

He stood up and took off running, Ariella smirked and ran after him he rounded a corner and saw a cart coming out in front of him. He leaped over laughing, Ariella matched his jump landing next to him, "hey welcome back Angeal!" Called the owner of the cart.

"Hi there," he waved over his shoulder before picking up the pace, Ariella blinked as they ran through town, it was so small compared to Midgar but in a way it had its own charm. Plus Angeal seemed to be happy to be here, and that alone put a small smile on Ariella's face.

They came to a house Angeal lunged for the knob but found Ariella touching it just before him. "Wow… you're fast." He panted putting his hands on his knees, "man… I bet you'd put Zack in his place…"

She smiled panting slightly, "You still held the lead though, faster then any Cockatrice."

"Yes but you were making me work for it," he ruffled her hair smiling. He hadn't had this much fun in ages. He stood up and wiped his face off before knocking on the door. He waited watching Ariella gazing at him curiously.

Finally the door opened, an elder lady with grey hair that matched Angeal's in style but was longer peeked through the door. Gillian Hewley opened the door all the way. "Yes?" She asked taking in Angeal, "Oh Angeal you're home!" She hugged him, "how are you?"

"Fine, how are you Mom?" Angeal asked as she pulled back and took a look at him.

"I've been just fine, and who's this?" She looked down at Ariella.

"We…er I'm Ariella, nice to meet you," Ariella seemed fixated on her feet shifting around uncomfortably.

Gillian smiled, "come on in dear, you can call me Auntie. You two must be tired."

She hurried them inside, "so are you two hungry? I have some peanut butter chocolate balls out drying. Or you'll probably be wanting dinner, what do you want?"

"You made peanut butter balls?" Angeal asked walking into the kitchen and picking up one of the chocolate covered treats.

Gillian nodded walking into the kitchen after him, "yes, but none until after dinner." She smacked his hand away from the treats.

Angeal sighed, "sorry. You know how much I love them…"

She laughed, "I know, it's good to have you home. Where's Ariella?"

They leaned around the doorframe of the kitchen seeing Ariella standing awkwardly on the doormat. Angeal sighed leaning back, "I'm sorry… she's so skittish, I think this is the first time she's ever been around a family. I'll send her off to play and then we can talk."

"Alright then," she sighed watching him.

"Ariella, why don't you go play outside for a little while?" Angeal asked.

She blinked looking around confused before nodding silently and trotting out the door to find something to do. Angeal looked back at his mother and they sat down at the table, "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay Angeal dear, now start at the beginning," she smiled at him. "So who's the mother?"

Angeal turned red, "Mom… it's not like that, she's not my real daughter. I've decided to adopt her." He sighed recounting his memories of the night twelve years ago when she was born to the events of the last few months, "so she's been staying with me at Shin-Ra, I keep wondering if she's happy, if she's not she's sure doing a good job of hiding it."

Gillian sighed, "You were a real handful too. Being a parent is hard, when your child cries you want to make them feel better but they don't, when you want them to smile but they won't, it's the worst feeling in the world. All you can do is try to do your best for her sake, now why don't you call Ariella in and we can get some dinner."

Angeal nodded standing up and hugging his mother before heading outside, the sky had become overcast and threatened to rain. "Ariella?" He called walking down the street looking for her. He felt something hit his nose; he gazed up at the graying sky as it began to rain. "Ariella?" He called again watching for her to come running over to him, finally he reached the playground he played at with Genesis when they were kids. Someone was standing by the entrance staring at the ground; he noticed the red stripe and realized it was Ariella.

He crossed the street and walked over to her, he saw she had a set of four almost claw marks on her face along with a nasty swelling bruise. He thought she might have even been crying but the rain made it hard to tell. He dropped to one knee and put his arms around her, she buried her face in his shoulder clutching at his shirt before sobbing. "Don't leave me."

Angeal gently put one arm behind her knees supporting her back with his other and picked her up carrying her back home. He sighed as Gillian watched them, silently she nodded to him, he nodded back and carried the crying Ariella upstairs to his room and sat down on the bed holding her. He sighed wondering what happened to make someone who could take a full dose of Zolom poison without flinching break down like that. The events of several hours earlier when Angeal and Gillian were talking and had sent her out happened to be the source of it.

Ariella was walking around the town somewhat bored, there were no rabbits to chase, no frogs, not even a dragonfly to snap at or pounce on. She was walking by the park when a ball rolled across the street to stop by her feet; curious she picked it up seeing someone else standing there. It was a young boy with black hair and bright blue eyes who otherwise could have been a mini Ariella or what she would have looked like at age six or so.

"Hi!" he greeted brightly.

"Um… hello," Ariella replied awkwardly.

"You wanna play with me?"

"Uh, sure," Ariella felt really confused by this request but accompanied the boy back across the street.

He smiled showing off his teeth, the front two were missing but it made him seem cute, "so what's your name?"

"Ariella," she replied returning the smile slightly.

"I'm Kai," he ran over to the play area, "I was playing with my new ball but I wanna play up here. Tag, you're it!" He dropped the ball in the sand and touched Ariella's arm.

She blinked watching him run off, she ran after him climbing up the pole before managing to get his ankle as he went by. She figured this must be the human version of play fighting; she slid down the pole before running away from Kai as he slid after her. They continued playing like that, Ariella keeping herself in check as far as strength and speed.

They'd been playing for about an hour before Kai stopped running looking down the path, "Kai sweetie it's time to go home!" Called a female voice.

"I gotta go, but you gotta meet my mom Ari, then you could come home for dinner," he declared grinning at Ariella.

They made their way down from the play structure and over to the woman, she had long black hair and deep brown eyes. Kai ran over to her, Ariella lingered for a moment, she could vaguely recall meeting this woman somewhere before. "Mama I want you to meet my new friend! This is Ariella!"

She looked away from her son and up at Ariella, her eyes went narrow while they widened, "Kai go on home." Kai waved to Ariella before running off. She walked over to Ariella, Ariella's natural instincts went on and rather then running she stood there, "don't come near my son you monster. I thought you were dead, you're dead, my daughter is dead, you killed her you monster." Ariella stood there dumbfounded silently watching the woman advance, she wanted to run, to do something other then stand there but her legs weren't working. "You damn monster, you're not my child, I hate you, die you little bitch!" She screeched swiping at Ariella's face, four thin red gashes showed up dripping blood while her cheek started to swell.

Ariella didn't block or move, she stood there as the woman grabbed her hair yanking it, suddenly out of nowhere a young man in red with auburn hair grabbed her and pulled her away from Ariella. "Leave her alone, go home." He ordered.

She staggered back, "y-your wrong, I don't regret anything. The only thing I regret is the day that monster… that _thing_ came into this world." She leaned against the railing surrounding the park walking away.

Genesis turned around seeing Ariella standing there, eyes dead, she wasn't moving but kept staring at the same spot on the ground unfocused. Genesis put the stupid apple in his hand up to his lips and took a bite before swallowing, "'A painful tomorrow is all that waits for you. Even twirling winds will not stop their flow.' I can assure you Ariella Hewley that I am always on your side, for we are on the same side. Farewell for now." He unfurled his wing taking off as the storm clouds started rolling in, Ariella stood there in a daze until Angeal came.

Back in the present time Angeal was stroking the still crying Ariella's head, "don't hate me. I'm not a monster… I'm not a monster… I'm not a monster…"

"Shh… I know, you're no monster, you're my daughter," he muttered feeling her sobbing slowly come to a stop along with her tears.

She shivered clinging to the fabric of his shirt, "I'm sorry… today when I was wandering through town, and we met a boy who bears a resemblance to us. And he was nice, after we played for a while his mother came… she…she… he's my brother…" Ariella managed before breaking into hysterical sobs again.

Angeal sighed, Ariella's mother clearly was still distressed from that night, and he sat there quietly stroking her head reassuringly. Eventually the sobbing subsided once again and she dozed off, he gently untangled her hands from his shirt putting a pillow under head and a blanket over her. He reached over and grabbed a well-worn stuffed moogle doll and tucked it in with Ariella, "keep an eye on her Kupo."

He stood up and went downstairs closing the door to let her get some sleep, Gillian looked up at him. "How is she?"

"Apparently she met her mother while she was out in town today," Angeal slammed his fist into the wall putting his head against his hand. "I shouldn't have sent her out. I'm so stupid."

His mother gently put her hand on his shoulder, "don't take all the blame. As long as you'd stay here sooner or later she would have met Darcia. But something tells me that isn't the answer. I remember there was that earthquake a while ago didn't Darcia get mako poisoning?"

"Yeah but she recovered, besides, Ari has stagnant mako, so that can't be the source," Angeal commented.

"Hmm, wait I remember Genesis was dating Darcia before you left, she was about 18 at the time, but they broke up when you two left nine months before Ariella was born. She started going out with Jacob for a month or so when they got married." Gillian added.

Angeal stood upright, before putting a hand on his head, "so wait… all this time… she's really… oh geez…" and with that Angeal keeled over onto the floor out like a light from the shock that the whole time he'd been taking care of Genesis's daughter along with the tension of the day.


	12. Sin Pater

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, sorry. Sin Pater - Without father

When Angeal woke up the next morning he realized he was on the couch with a blanket pulled over him. He sat up with a start, carefully folding the blanket he stood up heading upstairs, opening the door he saw a lump under the blankets that seemed to be shivering and whimpering. He walked in to see Ariella still asleep but thrashing around still asleep. Angeal sighed, yesterday must have been horrible, to meet your mother and realize she hated you. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like meeting his mother then meeting her own mother. The contrast must be killing her.

He put his hand on her head and whispered, "Ariella wake up…"

Her eyes snapped open; she winced as it shifted the bruise on her face, "An…Angeal…"

He smiled, "you were dreaming."

"We know… but… she hates me… then I see you with Auntie and it's confusing… what happened to make her hate us?" Ariella muttered hugging Kupo.

"It's a long story and I only know one person who can tell it successfully," Angeal replied stroking her hair gently.

"Angeal, Ari, breakfast!" Gillian called up the stairs to them.

Angeal smiled standing up, "let's go get something to eat."

She nodded standing up still holding onto Kupo, "yeah." They walked downstairs heading for the table, Ariella slid into her seat silently still holding Kupo while she grabbed a piece of toast nibbling the corner. Angeal sat down next to her watching silently, the oversized clothes, moogle doll, and manner of her toast destruction made her seem like she was much younger then she really was.

"Ariella sweetie would you like to come shopping with me today? I need to get some things to make dinner tonight and it'll give us a chance to have some girl time." Gillian commented as she set some bacon, eggs and fresh fruit on the plates.

She looked up nervously at the older lady, "um… okay…."

"Alright then," she smiled, the rest of the meal consisted of Angeal and Gillian talking about some of the changes in Banora since Angeal had been there last. Both were careful to avoid the subject of Darcia, Jacob and Kai, Ariella didn't seem to notice or if she did didn't show it.

When they'd finished and the plates were clean Gillian grabbed a bag, "we'll see you later Angeal, be a good boy." She smiled hugging him.

"Mom please, I'm old enough to look after myself for a few minutes," Angeal muttered turning red.

She grinned, "yes but teasing you is so much fun."

Angeal bent down and put a hand on Ariella's shoulders, "be good for my mother."

Ariella nodded, "yes sir!" She saluted he stood up saluting back. She opened the door letting Gillian out before scampering after her.

Angeal sighed looking around the house; he wanted a bath, then a dip in the hot springs near town. He sighed and walked down a hall and headed for the shower, he took off his clothes and got in turning it on. He washed off and sighed feeling his muscles relax. He finished off his shower and dried off; when that was done he tied the towel around his waist and headed upstairs to get a new outfit from his luggage.

As he closed the door, "hello Angy."

He jumped and nearly lost the towel as he spun around, "Genesis? How did you get in?!"

"You're the one who gave me a house key," Genesis replied pulling a small gold key out of his pocket.

Angeal smacked his head with his palm, "oh yeah…"

Genesis walked over to him, "well hurry up and get dressed, I want to talk with you."

Angeal grit his teeth wanting to slug Genesis for a lot of reasons but restrained himself, he pulled out a pair of clothing noticing that Genesis had turned around to give him a little privacy. He finished getting dressed pulling on a black button up tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "You can turn around if you want," Angeal commented as he finished.

Genesis turned around, "for someone who was assigned on patrol you're sure acting lax."

"Save it," Angeal replied opening the door, they descended the stairs and left the house locking the door behind them. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to treat your best friend?" Genesis asked feigning indignity as they left the town heading for the jungle. "After I came all the way out here to see you and Ariella."

"I said save it, but answer me this," Angeal growled before slamming his fist into Genesis's face. "Why didn't you stop Ariella getting abandoned twelve years ago?! You're her father for the love of Shiva!"

Genesis fell to the ground, a gentle stream of blood trickled out from his nose, "I didn't know until it was too late okay? It was a one-night stand with Darcia; I thought we were going to be together a lot longer then what happened. When she was against me joining SOLDIER I dumped her. I didn't realize she was pregnant!"

Angeal straddled Genesis grabbing him by the collar, "why didn't you stop her having to suffer? Why do you never tell me what's going on?! What is it you want me to do?!"

Genesis looked up at Angeal, "what does it matter now? Soon enough we'll be together, as a family. I've already sent someone to pick up Ari, and you're invited too. Think about it, Shin-Ra cursed our lives, so why not take out our revenge? It's our chance Angeal."

Angeal rocked back freeing Genesis, "Ari… what…?" He looked back into town seeing what looked like an explosion coming from it, "Genesis what's going on?"

"I would have assumed that she would have come along quietly, but it looks like things have gotten a little messy," Genesis stood up joining his best friend looking down into the town.

Angeal started to run but Genesis put a hand on his shoulder, "wait, this could get interesting."

Angeal strained against his friend, "you bastard, if you hurt Ariella then I won't forgive you. She's your daughter!"

What was going on down in town was a simple enough explanation, several Genesis clones stood in the town square blades pointing at Ariella. She'd done the smart thing and made sure that Gillian had taken cover behind some fruit stands. She glared between the G clones snarling and baring her teeth at them. One of them charged her head on; she ducked his sword swipe at her head and spun around sticking her leg out and sweeping him. She elbowed him as he went down before bringing the heel of her palm into his nose shoving the bone into his brain and killed him.

The next two watched Ariella, one charged while the other one sent a wave of lightning at her. She dodged the charge but was hit full force by the lightning; she was sent tumbling into a nearby stand. The two walked over seeing her hand sticking out from the pile, the one that'd charged bent down to inspect her. As he leaned in her hand moved and clenched him around the throat throttling him. She stood up tossing aside his body, there was a cut near her hand, and she licked it smirking, gold and silver eyes flashing at the last one.

He glared at her from under his helmet and launched a torrent of fire at her, lifting one hand up she let out a small humph of laughter. The next moment she was howling, the fire disappearing as she waved her hand. He twitched before summoning a rather large fireball and flinging it at her. She stopped it, spun around and threw it back at him laughing; it hit him and sent him flying. He staggered to his feet, glaring at her, Ariella closed her eyes vanishing, the next instant the G clone was being kicked in the head with a roundhouse kick, followed by a back spin hook kick, a back knuckle and finally a left hook to the face.

He keeled over dead after the spin hook kick hit him in the temple; she landed falling over clutching her head and screaming. Gillian peeked over seeing Ariella lying on the ground; she carefully picked her way over to the girl. "Ari are you okay?"

"Fine… just make her stop… I don't want anyone to die…" Ariella whimpered quietly.

Gillian smiled stroking Ariella's head, "you stopped those men, that was quite brave, thank you."

Ariella calmed down after a few minutes and sat up, "are you fine?"

"Yes, thanks to you, now come on dear, if you're feeling better we need to finish our shopping," the older woman smiled picking up her basket. Ariella nodded and scrabbled after her as they went into a shop.

Angeal blinked, "what was that just now?" Genesis had carried him over to one of the roof of one of the buildings in the town square.

"That's the real Ariella, a mindless killer, a beast that thrives in the heat of battle," Genesis replied. "What do you think?"

"So then it wasn't a dream…" Angeal muttered remembering when she forced him to sleep when the Midgar Zolom attacked. "She was really doing that. Just how strong is she?"

"Depends on just what the real Ariella is capable of, our normal one is about the same strength as a First Class SOLDIER. The real one may be as strong as us, maybe stronger, if fully unleashed."

"What do you mean unleashed?" Angeal muttered gazing sidelong at his best friend.

"Well when you were fighting the Midgar Zolom she was exhibiting more of a show then she was here," Genesis commented. "I'd say put her in a match against Sephiroth and see what happens."

Angeal glared at Genesis, "not funny. What's going to happen to her?"

"Best case scenario, she lives out the rest of her life with MPD, worst case she goes insane and we kill her," Genesis shrugged.

Angeal grabbed Genesis by the collar, "damn it there has to be something we can do?"

They stopped seeing the shop door open up again, Ariella and Gillian came out carrying a lot of groceries. "You better go, they'll be suspicious if you're not home." Genesis smirked.

Angeal glared at him, "damn it… No running off this time."

He leaped off the roofs and took a shortcut heading back towards his home. Genesis watched him go, "ah my naïve friend, you don't understand, Ariella will be mine, as will you. One way or another, 'No one can change the flow of the world, for a macabre dance is eternal." He unfurled his wing; he already had Angeal on his side, now for the key piece.

Back home Angeal and Gillian set about cooking, once again Angeal sent Ariella away figuring the chances of her running into Darcia or Jacob or Kai would be slim to none. Ariella wandered down the street to the park looking around curiously, she clambered up to the slide and hoisted herself onto the covering looking at the setting sun.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice commented.

She looked around, a man who looked about the same age as Sephiroth with hair the color of honey in a red coat was sitting next to her. He had vibrant blue eyes like Angeal's but there was something familiar about this stranger. She didn't sense any ill will coming from him, "yes it is. Who are you?" She stated bluntly but with a tone of sweetness.

"Call me Genesis, and you young lady?" He replied smiling.

"Ariella," she replied.

"Well Ariella I take it you like watching the sunset, most kids your age would be playing as long as they could yet you're sitting here." Genesis commented.

"W… I was taught life is the sunset, it comes and it goes in the blink of an eye and is rarely appreciated. However if you take the time to appreciate it then it truly is beautiful." She noted watching out to the horizon intently.

He smiled, "I bet with an insight like that your parents must love you. You're probably a genius, you'd make a brilliant author."

She hugged her knees to her chest, "they don't… they hate us… me… but Angeal's nice. He cares a lot and does a lot of nice things. Sometimes we… I wish he was my real father."

Genesis put his hand on her head and pulled her closer, "I'm sure your father doesn't hate you. In fact I think he's happy to be watching you from a distance."

She blinked, "You really think so?"

"I do think so, because there's no way someone could resist a charming little kid like you." He smiled putting a finger up to her lips, "but it's our little secret. Come here tomorrow at noon, we can talk more then."

"Ariella dinner's ready!" Came Angeal's voice.

Ariella turned around to see where Angeal was, she looked to see where Genesis went but he wasn't there anymore. She climbed off of the slide and ran over to Angeal and some real food.


	13. Promisi Vitae

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII or Crisis Core. Promisi Vitae - Promises of a Lifetime

**A/N** Sorry this update took so long, my internet was out for a while. Please enjoy!

Angeal woke up the next morning smiling at Ariella; she was still asleep with Kupo hugged up against her, her head resting against Angeal's chest. He'd fallen asleep as he attempted to tell her a story to help her fall asleep but he'd fallen asleep before she did. She opened her eyes, "morning," he greeted.

"Morning Angeal," she replied rubbing one eye sleepily.

He smiled, "did you sleep well?"

"Yes…" she managed before yawning.

He smiled before sighing, "go get cleaned up."

She staggered upright running out of the room, he stood up and stretched, he sighed, how did she end up with two fathers? It didn't matter though; with the exception of recent events she did seem happy. A few minutes later she reappeared with a tousle of wet hair from her shower, eyes peeking over the collar of her shirt. He smiled standing up and heading to the shower and took care of everything he needed to. He changed out his clothes and came back.

Gillian smiled as Angeal came down carrying Ariella on his back, "good morning you two."

"Morning Auntie," Ariella smiled waving.

"Good morning Mother," Angeal smiled setting Ariella down, she hugged Kupo as she climbed into a seat.

Breakfast consisted of some omelets and fruit, Ariella finished quickly, "bye bye!"

Angeal stopped her, "where are you going?"

"To see Ge…. Someone, we promised to be there by noon," Ariella replied.

Angeal looked up at the clock, "Ari, it's seven thirty, you have four and a half hours before you need to be there."

"Time is meaningless, the Sol rises and sets same as the Luna, dividing the time between is meaningless." She commented.

Angeal sighed, "well it looks like you don't like math, but I think you should at least be able to some math. Every First Class SOLDIER is required to be able to do Algebra to some extent. The Turks have to do the same, if Reno can do it I think you can too."

Gillian smiled and walked over to the counter grabbing a red notebook and pencil, "here. I'll help you."

Ariella clambered back into her seat and started at it, Angeal smiled as his mom handed him a chalkboard and chalk. "All right now let's practice counting," he started to explain basic numbers and addition. He watched her working intently on the paper with her pencil; she seemed to be picking it up so he moved onto subtraction. She had gone through several pages, "now then if I subtract two from…" he glanced up at the clock, "it's eleven fifty five, we can pick it up later. Go on and have fun but be back soon."

She stood up, "okay! No problem!" she ran out the door with Kupo abandoning the notebook. Angeal reached over and picked it up opening it to check her work; the first page was a picture of a lion, a very accurate and detailed picture of a lion. He turned the page, it was a picture of that Nero kid she'd been with in the Underground Lab, another page turn, it was Sephiroth and Lazard. A fourth page with Reno, Rude, Cissnei, and Rufus, the fifth page was Angeal with his wings, finally Angeal paled at page six, Genesis was sitting there with a smile on.

Angeal set the book down, all thought of anger at her not paying attention gone in a flash. What was a picture of Genesis doing in the book? How did she even know Genesis? He was positive it wasn't a drawing he'd done for two reasons; one Genesis wasn't wearing his First Class SOLDIER outfit when Angeal used the notebook. The second being he'd never been that good of an artist without food involved, of the pair Genesis was the creative one. He'd actually had a band and they got quite popular, he was constantly sneaking off in Midgar to do live shows and album recordings.

Angeal shook his head; this was no time to be thinking about his best friend's secret success as a rock star. He sighed and stood up, "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Gillian looked up from her knitting.

"I want to go find Ariella, I forgot to tell her something," Angeal replied calmly.

Gillian nodded, "alright then, just remember you need to help me make fried catfish tonight."

He nodded, "I'll be fine." He left the house and ran down the street heading for the park, he stopped across the street watching intently.

Ariella was talking to Genesis shaking slightly, "so basically… that's why she hates…"

"It's not all bad though, listen when you go back to Midgar you should ask Angeal about it," he smiled, "now go on, we can talk more when you head back to Midgar."

She nodded and ran off down the street, "you can come out Angeal." Genesis looked over right at him.

Angeal froze; he'd forgotten Genesis's exceptional sense of perception, not to mention the wind was at his back. He was practically advertising he was spying on them, sighing he came out of his hiding place across the street to where his friend was. "Genesis, what are you doing?"

"I should be allowed to see my own daughter you know," Genesis commented smirking.

"What do you want with Ariella?" Angeal demanded.

Genesis turned away from Angeal, "I just want to see her happy. You should hurry home before she worries about you."

"What were you telling her before?" He put his hand on Genesis's shoulder.

"Nothing you won't find out later," Genesis looked back at him smirking.

Angeal shook his head recognizing the look on Genesis's face, it was the, 'I know something you don't know but I'm not going to tell you because it's more amusing to watch you struggle to figure it out'. It was a common look on his friend ever since they were little kids, to this day he was still put off by it. "You'll tell me in time… you always do." He commented turning away from Genesis.

"I wonder how long can you continue to live like this, 'a ripple cannot be caught, lies cannot be lived, how long will you wander?' You can't go on living a human life, you know this yet you lie to yourself," Genesis replied.

"I know…" Angeal sighed hanging his head before walking away.

Genesis smirked, "interesting, you're already in the proper state of mind, if we are together then I'll get what I want." He unfurled his wing flying away in a maelstrom of black feathers.

Angeal sighed looking up at the sky, "If I left would you forgive me?" He turned his gaze back to the ground walking back home, he came to the door and sighed, "I couldn't find Ariella."

"Oh welcome back! Ariella's fine, she's upstairs getting a book for you to read to her," Gillian called to him.

Angeal nodded and went upstairs to see where Ariella had run off to, "Ari? Are you up here?"

She poked her head out of his bedroom, "hi, we were wondering if you would read this…" she smiled slightly and held out a book.

He took it before wincing as he realized what it was, it was Loveless, could Ariella read? This seemed to be more then her random selection of a book and potentially was premeditated. She smiled tilting her head to the side, he sighed and took the book, "go on, I'll be along in a second." He was wondering whether or not to actually read it to her, he sighed and walked inside watching her starting to get settles in, he hastily pulled out another book and hid it inside of the middle of Loveless.

He sat down on the bed, she snuggled in gazing at him intently, he opened the book and sighed, "alright then, this is called Loveless, a tale of the Journey to the West. A long time ago on a world that was very far away, men and beasts lived side by side in peace." He glanced down at Ariella. She was fast asleep, he sighed smiling at her. "However one day the beasts grew angry and violent towards the humans, so the gods sent a priest of the highest nobility, the Lord Priest Towa Sephiroth Sanzo to retrieve the Scriptures of Heaven and Earth. He did not do alone, there was a black haired water spirit named Angeal, a legendary warrior by the name of Lazard and a little warrior by the name of Ariella. The four were not alone and they had to fight many long battles," Angeal glanced down at Ariella. She was still out cold.

He looked out the window and sighed stroking her head absently mindedly, "however each had their own reasons for traveling together. Angeal was looking for his best friend, Sephiroth was coming along to get stronger, Ariella was coming because he was Angeal's friend, and Lazard was a warrior of untold power. As the four traveled west on their journey Angeal started to see his best friend everywhere, he had long assumed his friend to be dead. However Angeal had recently befriended Ariella and had grown rather attached to her. But he desperately wanted to be with his friend, so he wasn't sure what to do. But he knew what he needed to do and what he wanted to do, but either way no matter what he did he would make someone sad… and seeing either one of them sad would make him sad." Angeal looked out the window, "and Angeal wouldn't like that at all."

A few hours after he'd stopped talking he'd drifted off to sleep but Ariella had woken up, she looked out the window seeing Kai walking outside. It was only a two-story building, she'd made bigger leaps then two stories, and so she carefully slipped away from Angeal and opened the window. She grabbed Kupo and set him under Angeal's arm, "keep an eye on him Kupo." She clambered up to the window and out onto the overhang shutting the window behind her. In one leap she ran off of the roof and landed on the grass running after Kai. "Wait up!"

He turned around, "oh Ariella…" he started to run away but she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, what's wrong?" Ariella asked holding him to where he was standing.

"I can't play with you anymore, my mom says you're a demon," he shouted.

Ariella felt her grip slacken and he ran off, she took off after him, "wait just wait please!"

"I don't want to get in trouble," he shouted running for the playground.

She ran after him, he ran out of breath panting and leaning against the framework of the swings in the park. Ariella sighed sitting down on the one closest to him, "We can understand the reasoning behind it… we are not like you. It is logical to be mistrustful of something different. But Kai, you're young, from what I've seen of humans, they can change, don't let someone tell you what to think. When you become older and decide what path to follow, don't be someone who hates people without getting to know them. By the same token don't be someone who can't stand up for what they believe in. Be the kind of human who is worthy of becoming a true hero." She was swinging when she finished watching the sky; she hit the peak and leaped into the air landing on the ground. She stood up looking at him, putting her fist out to him, "that's the one thing we will ask of you as a friend."

He looked at her, blue eyes full of admiration, "I'll do that if you promise me that you'll be someone who I can be proud to call my big sister!"

She smiled at him, barely visible over the rim of her oversized turtle neck shirt, "a promise of a lifetime, Little Brother."

He punched her fist, "a promise of a lifetime, Big Sister."

They stood there for a moment, Ariella's oversized clothes, bare feet with Cockatrice feathers in her hair, and semi-feral appearance. Kai on the other hand had a button down shirt tucked neatly into his shorts with knee high socks and polished black shoes a stark contrast to his older sister. But anyone looking at them would see just two friends standing outside in a park.

At long last Ariella turned away and put one hand in her pocket, the other one waving at Kai. He waved back as she walked away.

Up in the branches of a tree near where the siblings made their promise, Genesis Rhapsodos was lounging and munching on a Stupid Apple, "she does take after us. Remember our promise of a lifetime here, Angeal?"

"_Promise me that we'll always be there for each other," the eight-year-old Genesis looked at Angeal as they stood by the swing set. _

"_I promise if you promise me that we'll always be together," Angeal replied._

_The two punched each others fist, "a promise of a lifetime my friend." Genesis smiled._

"_A promise of a lifetime," Angeal smiled back._


	14. Veneratio et Erubesco

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Dare to be Different. Veneratio et Erubesco - Honor and Respect

"Angeal, welcome back," Sephiroth greeted as Angeal walked forward, duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"Sir," Angeal saluted.

"Sir," Ariella intoned mimicking Angeal's salute, looking slightly taller then the last time Sephiroth had seen her.

"How was your trip?" Sephiroth asked, noticing four thin scars on Ariella's cheek. "Rough one from the look of it."

"It was more eventful then I would have liked," Angeal replied watching Ariella run over to Lazard and Zack. "I found out some interesting information about Ariella's background."

"What is it?" Sephiroth muttered.

"Not out here, I feel that Commander Lazard needs to hear this in a secure environment," Angeal whispered back.

Sephiroth glanced around, there were bugs everywhere in the area, and the only places where there weren't bugs were the bathrooms. "But how did she get those scars on her face? I wouldn't have expected that to be one of the souvenirs you brought back."

"Her mother, even after twelve years of assuming Ariella being dead she still hates her, she also has a younger half brother," Angeal replied.

Sephiroth nodded, "anything unusual about him?"

"No sir, probably has a mako level in the low thirties, not like Ariella's," Angeal replied watching Zack pick Ariella up. "The puppy seems to have taken a liking to her."

"I shouldn't have sent you away for two weeks, after all this place has been in absolute chaos without you two around." Sephiroth groaned.

"What happened?" Angeal asked as they all crammed into the elevator.

"Well Nate's been insufferable and has his ego reinflated," Sephiroth started. Of course without Ariella around, Nate Jackson was back to his old ways, some people would never accept a beating no matter how many times they're ego was handed to them on a silver platter. "He's been going around saying he scared her off since that whole disappearance incident."

Angeal had nearly forgotten, it seemed so long ago; Ariella hadn't been around SOLDIER proper for nearly a month, "Well training day should be rather amusing to watch."

"I have to go, we'll talk tomorrow at practice. You can tell me what's going on," Sephiroth muttered as the doors opened, he gave Ariella's head a pat, "see you kid."

"Bye Uncle Sephy!" Ariella waved slightly as he left.

His lower eyelid twitched as he walked away, Zack jogged after him, "see ya Ari!"

Lazard smiled ruffling Ariella's hair, "see you later," he also stepped out of the elevator. She saluted as the three left, the elevator opened up on the next floor revealing a boy about Ariella's age with black hair and red eyes.

"Ari!" Nero shouted running over as she and Angeal got off of the elevator. "How was your trip?"

"Fine, how was you're first time in SOLDIER?" She asked.

"Brilliant! I won't be allowed to join until I turn thirteen but Weiss was such a special case they put him in Second Class and are already considering him for First Class!" Nero sounded excited.

"That's good," she smiled quietly at him; they walked down the hall holding hands.

Angeal glared at the back of Nero's head, he didn't like Nero at all, and both he and Ariella were too young to be in love. He wished he had his sharpening kit and Buster Sword, desperately wanting to let Nero know subtly he didn't approve. Eventually they reached Angeal's apartment, "alright Nero, run along home." He declared to the boy.

"See ya later Ari!" Nero smiled running off.

"Bye Nero," Ariella smiled slightly, she walked into the apartment and keeled over on her familiar blanket nest on Angeal's couch. "So tired…"

"I know it's been a long trip, get some sleep, I get the feeling tomorrow is going to be rather interesting," Angeal leaned over the back of the couch and pulled one of the blankets over Ariella. "Good night Ari."

"Good night, Dad," she muttered as she drifted off.

The next morning after their normal morning routine and a light breakfast Angeal and Ariella headed down to the Training Hall and the Second Class practice. Zack waved at Ariella, she looked up at Angeal for approval to go over, and he nodded watching her run over to Zack and his fellow Second Class, Daniel. The First Class smiled slightly, it was hard to believe that not long ago she was skittish around other people. Lions being pack animals kept a social order so it followed that Ariella would be keen to engage in social activities.

"Alright pad up and grab your weapons!" Angeal shouted to the room at large.

There was a delayed scramble to grab gear, most sectioned off into groups to chat while they did so. Angeal kept a close eye on Nate and his cronies in one corner; they looked to be conspiring something. The assembled Second Class lined up, these were one on one matches or a group all fighting one another. "Who's first?" Angeal called.

Nate swaggered forward, "I challenge the brat. One on one," he smirked pointing his wooden sword at Ariella.

"Nate that's…" he started to stop the contest but Ariella was walking forward. "What're you doing?!"

"If it is a fight he desires of us then it is a fight he shall get," she replied calmly.

Zack ran forward starting to pull off his gear for her, "just your stick if you would please. Your armor would not fit us."

Zack grinned handing over his wooden sword. It was taller then Ariella was but she was holding it calmly unphazed by the unorthodox implement. Angeal shook his head, he'd intervene if things got out of hand but for now he'd stay back and watch. "Face me bow," Nate turned and bowed with his sword pointing up, Ariella mimicked him, "face each other bow," Ariella bowed to him with her sword up but Nate turned his blade downward when he bowed. Angeal twitched, that was not only disrespectful but it meant Nate intended to maim or kill Ariella. "Begin!" Angeal leaped back as Nate charged at Ariella head on swinging in a wide arc aiming for her head.

Ariella ducked and dodge rolled out of the way, Nate spun around and connected with a side slash. She blocked but the difference in force sent her cartwheeling into the air. Nate smirked at her from the ground and reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing green orb, materia. "Fire3!" He shouted unleashing a torrent of fire up at her, that wasn't just any ordinary materia, it was mastered if it could do Fire3.

Ariella spun out of the way before landing on the ground glaring at him, he charged at her again, this time she took one hand off of the blade and flung it over his arm before snaking it around, his sword falling out as he was disarmed, the wily weapon hit him squarely between the legs and he fell to the ground in the fetal position.

Angeal sighed, "that's a clean disarm!" He strode quickly over to Ariella, "the winner is Ariella Hewley!"

There was a loud round of applause and cheering as Nate's cronies dragged him off of the practice floor. "Ari does it again! She should be our mascot!" Zack shouted picking Ariella up and putting her on his shoulders.

"Zack she's not a puppy!" Daniel shouted.

"So she's cute enough to be a mascot!" Zack argued.

Angeal sighed, "alright whose next? Weiss, Zack, let's go."

The rest of the day passed with about the same level of excitement as the Second Class fought each other. In the end it would be at least several days before any of them finished recovering enough to fight again. However after these events happened it was typically time for First Class Drill, and there were only two people qualified to run it, Lazard and Sephiroth. Angeal watched the Second Class wave of purple disappear into the locker rooms, Zack, Daniel, Weiss, and several other moved well out of the way. Zack was once again sporting Ariella on his shoulders but set her down seeing Nero running over to them.

"Hi Weiss, Ari!" Nero greeted as he clambered up to the Second Class station near the weapons rack.

"Hi Nero," Ariella greeted quietly.

"Shh, they're starting," Weiss silenced them hastily.

The reason the Second Class group was staying was that they were all up for consideration for First Class promotion and had been invited to watch practice. But there was an awestruck silence as Sephiroth entered the room followed by the other First Class, Angeal having left to retrieve his training equipment. He acknowledged the Second Class and kids at salute, "at ease," the group relaxed, "today is full contact sparring, this is what you'll be facing if you are accepted into First Class. Angeal, Sebastian, with me, the rest of you keep back."

There was no hint of pleading in Sephiroth's voice, and everybody quickly obeyed, the two First Class stepped out onto the floor while the rest backed off by the Second Class. Ariella could barely see as the crowd shut her and Nero in. Ariella tugged at Zack's shirt, he smiled and picked her up, and Nero also tugged at Weiss's shirt and also received a boost in elevation.

Angeal, Sebastian and Sephiroth bowed to one another, Angeal was holding a wooden claymore, and Sebastian had what looked like a wooden longsword, and Sephiroth carried a wooden Masamune. Sephiroth started to circle the group slowly, soon the trio were engaged in a spiral, Angeal and Sebastian tried to get Sephiroth between them in order to catch him off guard. Sebastian managed to get behind Sephiroth, Sephiroth considered Angeal to be his biggest threat at the moment.

Angeal charged Sephiroth at the same time as Sebastian did; Sephiroth deflected Sebastian's attack as he spun out of the way of Angeal's. Angeal side swiped as Sephiroth back flipped into the air, Sebastian and Angeal followed him and Sebastian swung at Sephiroth's head, Sephiroth leaned back into another flip and caught Sebastian under the chin with his foot while at the same time going for an overhead strike at Angeal. Angeal blocked going for a front flip and catching Sephiroth in the back with a sharp roundhouse kick to the chest, followed up by a spin hook kick backfist combination. His attack was short lived though as Sephiroth swung his sword, Angeal blocked but the impact sent him falling to the ground, he landed next to the unconscious Sebastian. Angeal coughed a few times; there was a trickle of blood over his left eye from some injury received on impact along with some cracked ribs. Sephiroth landed on his feet effortlessly looking over at the two strongest First Class, Angeal was using his sword as an aid to pull himself into a kneel, he let it fall, "I yield."

Sephiroth nodded and helped him stand up smiling a little, "that was good, you really got me that time. If you hadn't hesitated from my sword swing it might've been me in your position."

Angeal nodded accepting he hesitated when Sephiroth attacked, "I know…"

"Hey don't take it so hard, you still nailed me," Sephiroth smiled slightly again. Angeal nodded groggily, the wound on his head was drawing away his concentration. Sephiroth put his hand on Angeal's shoulder before whispering, "why don't you ever tell me anything anymore? I could help if you let me in."

"Its fine Seph… just tired is all, raising a kid is way harder then it looks," Angeal muttered staring at the ground.

"Just don't forget I'm your friend too," Sephiroth muttered again before walking over to the rest of the First Class, "Harrison, Pitt, Derek, you three next." He looked over to the Second Classes, "well now that you've had a taste of what First Class practice entails, Fair, Weiss, help clear Sebastian out and get him and Angeal to the infirmary."

Zack nodded and saluted, as did Weiss before the pair put down the kids and ran over to aid in the practice. Ariella ran past the SOLDIERs to Angeal looking at him wide eyed, "you okay?"

He sighed before smiling and putting a hand on her head, "I'm fine, I promise."

She nodded as Zack pulled Angeal's arm around his shoulders, Weiss easily picking up the unconscious Sebastian. Nero walked over to Ariella as they left the training hall, "I've never seen such a beautiful dance before."

"I've never seen anything like that since we watched our first hunt," Ariella smiled slightly in agreement.

"General Sephiroth is the strongest in SOLDIER after you Weiss!" Nero smiled up at his elder brother.

Ariella shook her head, "no way! Angeal's the strongest!"

"Then how come General Sephiroth beat him?" Nero taunted.

"He's still tired from our trip," Ariella retorted glaring at Nero.

Weiss shook his head, "now don't get ahead of yourself you two, after all I've never seen anyone fight the way the General does, it was like watching a play. It was absolutely brilliant."

"I know, it was absolutely insane, so what's he like Angeal?" Zack asked next to his ear.

To Angeal it sounded like Zack's voice was hooked up to an amplifier. "The General…" he muttered, his head was hurting too much to continue paying attention and he felt his eyes close.


	15. Somnius Amissi

Disclaimer: I don't own Crisis Core as far as creative rights. Somnius Amissi - Dream of Losing

Both Angeal and Sebastian spent several days in materia care, before being discharged with clean bills of health. However as soon as they did they received urgent orders, all First Class, and the Second Class candidates were being dispatched immediately. Ariella stood next to Angeal in line as Sephiroth was pacing the line, "this is a dangerous mission, and the Emperor of Wutai has asked us to deal with some rebels in his area as a show of good faith. I am not going to guarantee you are going to make it back if you act alone or recklessly, if you follow your orders you will make it out alive." He added seeing Ariella's anxious look as well as Nero's, "now we leave in one hour and down expect to be waited for if you are late."

Angeal and Weiss sighed, "okay you two, we're leaving you with Reeve for the time we're gone so behave, Ari don't bite anyone." Angeal warned.

"And Nero don't pull anyone into the darkness," Weiss cautioned.

The twelve year olds saluted, "no problem! We'll be good!"

"Alright then, run along you two," Angeal smiled nudging them towards the door and the waiting Reeve. He grabbed Ariella though and pulled her into a hug, "good bye Ari."

She hugged him back, "bye Dad." She thought it sounded oddly final, he'd be back by tonight but it was bothering her. He let go and she ran over to the door watching Angeal walk away, not looking back once.

"Don't worry about a thing, we'll be just fine," Reeve called waving at the SOLDIERs as they headed towards the far door and the equipment room. He looked down at the two; "okay I have to attend a meeting so you're really going to be staying with Tseng until I finish."

Ariella nodded, "okay, we understand the work you do is very important."

"Good," Reeve opened the door and they ran out. After a short elevator ride the pair found themselves being ushered into Tseng's office by Reeve, "all yours Tseng."

He hastily bowed himself out leaving the pair of kids looking around his office, the Field Commander of the Turks sighed, "wonderful… when were the Turks ever a babysitting service… Alright you two, I have a lot of work to do so stay on this level and don't wander off to another floor without an adult." With that he turned back to his work assuming the kids would do something quiet as he worked. It was not to be, as soon as the phrase, 'stay on the level' was uttered they opened the door and Ariella took off running smelling the air.

"Where're we going?" Nero asked as he ran after Ariella.

"Reno," was all he got as a reply.

They sped past the cubicles to find the aforementioned Turk asleep; a little bit of drool was coming out of his mouth and spilling onto his paperwork. Ariella gave him a poke in the ribs; he woke up with a start and looked around, "what?! I was working I swear yo! Oh hey kiddo," he greeted Ariella, "and other kid." He grinned at Nero.

"Nero, Reno, and otherwise," Ariella introduced.

" 'Sup," Reno grinned giving a two fingered salute at Nero.

"Hi," Nero replied, watching Reno intently.

Reno sighed as he looked at the wet stack of papers on his desk, "aw hell with it, I'm going with you two," he was four years older then them but he had about the same length of attention span. "It snowed last night, and the shi… stuff on the roof is still good for doing stuff with." He grinned impishly

"But Mr. Tseng said we have to stay on this floor," Nero replied.

Ariella grinned to match Reno, "unless we were with an adult, Big Brother Reno is more then an adult."

"Oh," Nero got an identical grin on his face.

Twenty minutes later after bundling up, Ariella, Nero, and Reno were on the roof of the Shin-Ra building looking at the pristine white pack. Ariella had claimed that she wasn't going to get cold, all she got was, "whatever," as a protest from Reno. The younger two ran forward sinking in up to their waists in the snow, they stood up laughing.

Ariella and Nero hastily busied themselves making snowmen, Ariella's was supposedly Angeal and Nero's was Weiss. Reno watched them from behind a wall of snow; he peeked out and lobbed a snowball hitting Ariella with a snowball on the back. Nero took revenge and threw a snowball back at Reno; it hit the redhead in the face.

"Oh it's on now!" Reno shouted chucking another snowball at Nero, Ariella had two snowballs; she threw one to counter Reno's and another at the Turk.

Reno packed up another handful of snow and threw it at the pair, Nero pushed Ariella out of the way retaliating with a snowball of his own, "… Reno I need that report…" came the voice of Rude before he was hit in the head with Nero snowball. He glared at Reno from behind his sunglasses and he scooped up some snow and threw it at Nero. Ariella countered forcing Rude to dive behind Reno's shield. "What're you doing?"

"You gotta help me Rude! I'll never ask another thing of you if you do," Reno pleaded with his friend.

"…" Rude replied, he knew how long that would last.

Sighing he scooped up another handful of snow and chucked it at the mischivious kids, Nero ducked behind their new trench pit as Rude opened fire. Reno sent another projectile at them but, "Rude where's that report? Tell…" Cissnei started before Reno's wildfire shot hit her. Ariella reached up and tugged Cissnei into their shelter. "Huh? Ariella?"

"Hi Cissnei, wanna help us?" she asked.

"Please, we can't do it alone," Nero begged.

Cissnei nodded, "of course," and the trio prepared to open fire on the opposing fort.

Cissnei lobbed a frozen grenade at Reno and Rude, Reno took it in the face, he wiped it off, "damn it's three on one."

He ducked as a wild shot from Ariella flew over their fort, "Cissnei, I need that report," Tseng started to say before he was hit squarely in the chest with the snowball. Another attack from Nero was sailing for him; Reno and Rude reached up and pulled him down behind their shield. "Reno, Rude, what's going on here?" He asked, left eyelid twitching.

"Long story bossman," Reno grinned. "So wanna help us yo?"

"I can see there's no way of pulling you away from this… but this is completely juvenile." Tseng sighed before a snowball hit him in the face. He glared at Cissnei, "that's it. Take this!" And with that remark he packed in a snowball and threw it at Cissnei, the younger Turk ducked out of the way.

Unfortunately someone came out of the door, "Tseng I need that report if you…" the last person Tseng wanted to hit came out; Commander Verdot of the Turks took the snowball right in the cheek.

"M-Mr. Verdot sir!" Tseng stood up to salute but received a snowball in the face from his commanding officer.

Reno let out a whoop opening fire; Verdot crouched behind the shield of Ariella, Nero, and Cissnei. "Cissnei what's our situation?" The older man looked at the Turk.

"Well Ariella, Nero and I have been holding down our current position but they're not going to surrender any time soon." Cissnei replied.

Verdot nodded looking at where Ariella and Nero were in an exchange of volleys with Reno, Rude and Tseng. The Turk Commander, after having pulled Ariella and Nero from the fire, was drawing in the snow with his finger looking at Ariella and Nero, "this plan falls onto you two to pull off. Understand?"

Both saluted, "yes sir!" Nero threw one last snowball.

One of the stray rounds from Nero hit the person who had just arrived, Rufus Shin-Ra looked down at his suit, "okay who threw that?!" He shouted before another round courtesy of Ariella slammed into his face. Tseng pulled him to safety as another snowball zipped by his head.

"Tseng what's going on up here?" Rufus asked.

"We're engaged in war with the enemy sir," Tseng replied.

"Whose the enemy?" Rufus asked looking at the other fort.

"A pair of children, Cissnei and Commander Verdot," Tseng replied.

Rufus stood up, "well I'd hardly call that worthy to warrant an assault of this caliber.

Tseng shook his head, "you'd be surprised sir."

All at once Reno, Rude, Tseng, and Rufus were pulled down under the snow before being buried up to their necks. Verdot and Cissnei hastily let loose a barrage of snowballs while Ariella and Nero continued to pile the snow over them.

Rufus spit some snow out of his mouth, "what was that?"

"Ah the use of trenches my dear Vice President, I had Ariella and Nero tunnel around to you and pull you in. Now do you surrender or will we have to shove snow down your trousers?" Verdot commented calmly.

Reno groaned, "a little late for that boss… I got some snow near my-"

Rude broke through the snow with his hand and slammed it over Reno's mouth, "no need to be vulgar in front of the children."

"Reno…" Tseng sighed.

The south door opened one last time and out stepped Reeve Tuesti with Cait Sith in his arms, "so this is where you two got off to." He was smiling at the snow soaked Nero and Ariella. "Oh my, it would seem we've caused quite a stir in the group. So how did all of you get up here?"

Verdot was about to speak when she sneezed, "excuse me… Well I came up here looking for Cissnei and eventually we all ended up here."

Reeve looked at Verdot, "I think we better get you back inside."

An hour later the two armies were standing around in Reeve's office with mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. Ariella and Nero were looking up at Reno and Rude, Reeve slid forward a paper, "Okay all I need is for both parties to sign this and the peace treaty of the First Snow War of Shin-Ra."

Reno grabbed the pen on the desk and signed his name on it, Rude and Nero also signed it calmly, and Nero passed her the pen, "go on and sign it."

She stared at the pen then at the paper; she put the pen down, bit the tip of her thumb and pressed the bloody print to the paper. "There, and now there is peace between our clans."

"Okay well it's time for the division to be coming back, so you two better run along," Reeve commented, "I'll get a copy of this for the Turks so you can have it hanging in SOLDIER HQ and in the Turks department."

Ariella and Nero nodded, "thank you Mr. Tuesti," Nero smiled, red eyes glowing.

"Any time," he smiled.

The pair started saying their good byes to the rest of the Turks and Rufus before running to the door. Verdot, Rude, Cissnei and Rufus rounded on Reno, "what about the report for the President!?"

"Er well…" Reno shrank back, it was still on his desk with two sentences on it, 'This is my report on my most recent mission. It sucked.' At which point he'd lost all interest in his report and taken a nap.

The twelve year olds had made a detour to said office and retrieved Kupo the Moogle doll from Reno's desk before heading to the elevator and going down to floor forty-nine. Nero grinned, "Race ya."

They ran all the way to the briefing room and burst through the door, the odd amount of silence was almost deafening. The pair of children stopped laughing and looked around quietly, Nero spotted Weiss, and they ran over, "hey Big Brother!"

"Oh hey," Weiss muttered.

Nero looked at him concerned, "Weiss you okay?"

"Just tired," he sighed ruffling Nero's hair smiling a little. "Say good bye to Ariella."

Nero took Ariella's hand, "see ya Ari."

"Bye Nero," she smiled. "We're going to look for Angeal." Weiss ushered Nero out looking dismayed at the mention of Angeal. Ariella wandered over towards Zack, but the minute he saw her he bolted out the door, she twitched slightly before spotting Daniel, he mimicked Zack's reaction and ran out the door. She was getting a little nervous now, when she spotted Sephiroth she was dismayed by the fact he walked right by her without blinking. She finally went to the last man in the room, but Lazard also ignored her, she shook her head attempting to remain optimistic. "He's probably back at the den waiting for us. Yes that's it…" she ran out of the room taking the elevator to the barracks and then running to their apartment. The lock stood bolted, she pulled out her emergency key and walked in, "hello? Angeal? Are you here?"

She wandered around the place several times before spotting a note by the empty stand where the Buster Sword usually rested. She picked it up reading it. Ariella stood there swaying on her feet, her eyes flicking over the note again, wasn't sure she'd read it right. Even with her reading level she still wasn't sure she had read it right. She reread the note for a third time, she dropped it clutching Kupo to her chest and running to Angeal's room throwing herself on the bed.

The note possessed a few simple words, "Thank you for everything. Good bye Ariella." It was in Angeal's handwriting.


	16. Furor Contra Mundi

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. Furor Contra Mundi – Rage Against the World

Sephiroth glared at the door of Angeal's apartment, "Ariella, open this door, or I'm breaking and entering." He stood there for a moment before kicking the door open, "Ariella?"

He walked in, followed by Nero, Zack, Reno, and Lazard, why the Turk was in the group was a mystery to Sephiroth. The room was a disaster area, the couch was overthrown, chairs everywhere, along with torn curtains and broken glass from the picture frames. But he wasn't concerned about that, he noticed the balcony door ajar, he ran forward and looked over the rail, "she couldn't have jumped out of despair could she?"

"Once again my friend I think you're overreacting," Lazard sighed and pointed over at the only closed door in the place.

Sephiroth walked over to the door and knocked, "Ariella open up."

He got no reply, though he heard sobbing through the wood, "never a good daughter… always a freak… never able to do anything… worthless… always abandoned… sick of it… I'm so sick of it!" Every time he heard her choke there was an increase in the smell of blood. He broke the door down seeing Ariella standing in the middle of the room looking like as much of a wreck as the apartment. Her face was tearstained, hair tangled, her skin a sickly pale and she was far thinner then when they'd found her. What caught his attention most was the absence of her sleeves, blood dripping from her forearms. She was slamming her fists into the mirror near the dressers and the windows starting to break the furniture.

"Ariella stop this you're being unreasonable," Sephiroth ordered.

She glared at him, eyes gold and silver, tears streaming down her face, "shut up! You don't know anything! If you want to stop this then come like you're ready to kill dammit!"

Sephiroth stepped forward, "Ari I can understand you're upset but this is going beyond acceptable!"

"Shut up, no one asked for your goddamn opinion!" She roared breaking another section of mirror cutting her hand more.

"This attitude is getting out of hand, either stop now or I'll make you stop by force," his eyes were flashing green.

She smirked closing her eyes, "go on… it doesn't matter what you do…. It will all end the same way." She opened them a little as her smirk faded and she seemed to be in pain as she spoke.

Sephiroth ran forward throwing a hasty backfist at her, she ducked out of the way catching him under the chin with an upper cut. He hadn't anticipated she could move with such speed, he slammed his fist into her stomach; she coughed before head butting him in the face and kicking him in the shin. He brought his other hand up and wrapped his hands around her throat clenching in and picking her up so they were eye to eye.

"Now will you listen to reason and stop behaving like an unruly spoiled brat?" Sephiroth growled, part of him wanted to just snap her neck for her attitude but the other half was heartbroken over the transformation in Ariella's behavior. He looked into her eyes; they weren't the eyes of a killer, or even someone who wanted to hurt someone. Her look said, 'please just kill me, I'm begging you.'

"What happens or doesn't happen is none of your concern, what do you care anyway?" She muttered, the hollow empty look in her eyes now more obvious then ever.

He growled slightly and squeezed tight enough to make her black out, he laid her down on the bed taking full calculation of her injuries. She seemed to be much thinner but didn't have any signs of starvation or dehydration other then her weight. She must have picked up her attitude and language from being around SOLDIER too long, which for her to go in a rage with that sort of talk must mean she was seriously troubled. He watched her for a while, "Angeal… she's going insane without you… why did you leave?" Nero ran in before seeing Sephiroth holding the unconscious Ariella and his eyes watered over before he took off running for Weiss.

Reno paled as he saw Ariella, "I'll go get the doctor… come on Zacky…" he muttered, he and Zack left to go get some medical supplies and a doctor.

Sephiroth looked at her silently before laying her back on the bed and searching through Angeal's bathroom for some bandages. Normally he wouldn't worry but she'd been locked up for over a week doing this for who knows how long so she would die if she didn't get something in her system and some bandages on her arms then she would die.

Sephiroth brought the bandages back to the bedroom and started tending to Ariella's injuries. He looked over at the bedside table, there was a picture of Angeal and Ariella in a frame, but unlike the rest of the glass in the apartment she'd left it intact. "Why Angeal? Why did you leave? You left without saying good bye…"

He wrapped the bandages around Ariella's arms silently, watching her shallow breathing. He noticed that she really did look sick; Reno and Zack had better hurry back with that doctor. He glanced up as Lazard walked in, "I don't think she's taken it as well as we would have hoped." Lazard commented pushing his glasses up his nose.

"You can say that again," Sephiroth muttered, "I know there are five stages of mourning but I've never seen someone take stage two so harshly."

Lazard shrugged picking up a bloody piece of mirror, "I can't say as I'm surprised, after all after being treated the way she has been over the years, she probably has lost the ability to trust at all. I wouldn't be surprised if she never trusted someone again."

"It was a long time before I could bring myself to trust anyone… I think I can understand what she's going through. You think someone will be there but then they leave without saying a word and your world shatters. Though I don't want to see that happen to someone like her…" Sephiroth muttered watching her shaking in her sleep.

"Angeal was probably the first person to show her any consideration, and then… in some way we abandoned her the other night when we all left without telling her anything," Lazard crossed his arms and looked out the broken window watching snow drift in. "Seph, when the snow melts what does it become?"

Sephiroth looked at Lazard like he was crazy for asking such a basic question, "water of course."

Lazard shook his head, "no, it becomes spring. The snow no matter how deep is can always be melted to reveal a pure spring field. Right now Angeal's departure is the snow to Ariella, if we don't find him then she'll be frozen in an ice locked heart. We'll be lucky if she even wakes up."

"That bastard… we're going to find him… and when I do I'm going to beat him into a pulp," Sephiroth muttered, several sparks of electricity arced between his fingers.

"Take it easy, let's just get Ariella out of the danger zone first." Lazard replied, the light flashing off of the lenses in his glasses as he glared at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth clenched his fist, "hey General we got the medical crew… you want us to get a clean up crew too?" Zack asked nervously.

Sephiroth nodded silently, "send them in, and yes go get the cleaning crew. I want all of the articles such as pictures, books, weapons and the like in my office by tomorrow. I want all of the furniture replaced, everything revamped."

"Yes sir," Zack saluted before returning his gaze to the ground.

Sephiroth watched as Aaron and Jenkins came in, Zack had made a good judgment call, unlike their boss the pair was reliable and responsible. He stood up to move by Lazard as the pair pulled off her bandages before looking up at Sephiroth and Lazard. "It doesn't look too good, there's not enough skin left to suture the wounds and she's too weak to take into surgery right now." Jenkins muttered, his brow furrowed in concentration. "We need to get her in a mako tank before we can do any sort of repairs."

The scientist dropped his gaze to the floor as Sephiroth's pupils narrowed, no one, at least not Ariella deserved to go in a mako tank. He'd betrayed her once, she was the last reminder of his closest friends that he had, and he wasn't going to lose her. "I see… would it be possible to install one in my apartment?"

Aaron stood up, "it would, and Hojo would kill us soon as he found out but what's more fun then going behind the geezer's back?" He smiled at the General, "you'll have your mako tank installed within the hour."

Sephiroth nodded, he had an innate mistrust of scientists but the pair of misfits had proven themselves worthy of Sephiroth's trust when it came to the safety of the people under his command. They walked out, Sephiroth nodded to Lazard, "what's the plan now?"

"We'll be refraining from missions for now, after all the First Class has just lost Angeal, and the Second Class has been in disarray without the First Class. We'll continue sending the Third Class on training exercises under the more stable Second Class and try to maintain the façade of normal functions." Lazard replied walking over to the door, "I'm going to go do some work, try not to kill anyone."

"I'm just going to stay here for a while," Sephiroth replied watching Lazard leave. He waited a few minutes before standing up and leaving the bedroom, he picked his way across the glass fragments and walked to a fallen picture, it was a simple shot, a picture of himself, Genesis and Angeal. He picked it up brushing away shards of glass, it had been the first time in his life he had friends. He walked over to the last unbroken bit of window and punched it, "what happened? Do you hate me? What did I do wrong? Why did you stop talking to me? When did we drift apart? When did that rift form… was it always there and I just to naïve to see it…"

"It wasn't you they are upset with…" came a faint voice. He turned to see Ariella leaning against the wall; eyes back to their familiar green and blue.

"You shouldn't be moving around." He walked over to her commenting.

"We are sorry… she is quite over protective of me," she muttered looking fixated on the ground, "we supposes we should be accustomed to people leaving us behind… it is our fault that Angeal left."

Sephiroth sighed, "don't take all the blame. You couldn't have known that he would have left."

She stared at the floor silently; "we should have anticipated this… we were unwanted at birth we are unwanted in live… unmissed in dead…"

He cuffed her in the head, "you really think that no one wants you around? Nero's been scared senseless by what you've been doing in here. Zack and Reno have been worried sick, Lazard's stopped most SOLDIER functions, and I…"

"You what?" Ariella muttered.

"I think I was jealous of you, you're closer to Angeal then I could ever be… And at first I resented you for it, but now I think I can understand how you feel," he muttered kneeling down while putting two fingers under her chin to pull her head up to look him in the eye. "Now that Angeal left all we have are each other, okay?"

Ariella pulled away from him, "what's the point…"

"Well Angeal is alive, we both want him back, all in favor of working together and getting him back where he belongs?" A small smile flicked across his face as he spoke.

"We are in concurrence…" she muttered before falling over unconscious, a slight trickle of blood from her lips. Sephiroth hastily picked her up and carried her to his apartment, he saw Aaron and Jenkins walking out, neither one the worse for wear.

"Perfect timing General, we got the tank all installed, I'd say about twenty four to forty eight hours submersion before we can perform surgery," Jenkins commented before noticing the blood trickling out of Ariella's mouth, "the tank inside near the weapons rack."

"I'll leave it to you two to make sure it continues to function normally," Sephiroth commented before disappearing inside and heading to said tank. He set Ariella against it before stepping back; mako tanks never meant anything good. He'd much rather Ariella just wait it out rather then put her in there. He picked her up and laid her down on the couch pulling a blanket over her walking away.


	17. Venire et Cedere

Disclaimer: My ownership is nil. Venire et Cedere: To Come and Go

**A/N: **Sorry this update took so long, this chapter was a killer to write. I'm almost done with my other project so as soon as it's done I can devote myself fully to this. So if over the next few days I don't update much please forgive me.

However over the next few days Ariella's condition wasn't improving, she'd developed a high fever of 103 degrees along with vomiting up blood. Sephiroth was now panicked over whether or not to put her in the mako tank; he was cooped up in his room changing out the bucket by the bed. He looked at her blood, there were bits of glowing purplish red flitting in and out looking fishlike as they did so. He pored it into the sink and washed out the bucket, he dried it out and put it by Ariella when there was a knock at the door.

He walked over to the door and opened it, "hello Zack… Lazard…"

He stepped back letting Lazard in, Zack followed sporting his new First Class uniform, "Seph what happened to this place it reeks like blood everywhere…" Lazard commented as he walked into the living room.

"Yeah," Zack nodded in agreement, "someone die?"

"Not quite… Ariella's experiencing… complications," he muttered hearing Ariella coughing again.

Lazard walked over hastily and looked at Ariella, "this isn't good she's got anemia and her fever's going up, if you don't put her in there then she's going to die!"

"I'm not going to put her in there," Sephiroth shook his head.

Lazard looked at Zack, "go fill up the bath with cold water, we're going to deep freeze her before bringing her temperature up carefully."

Zack nodded and ran to the bathroom turning the cold water on full blast, it filled up quickly, but when he checked it was still only lukewarm. He ran over to Sephiroth's fridge past where the other two were talking, grabbed all the ice he could and dropped it into the tub. After clearing out all the ice in the apartment he checked the temperature again and shivered at how cold it was. He ran back into the living room, "ready, how's Ari doing?"

"Not good… her fever's reached 106 she'll be dead in a couple of minutes," Sephiroth shook his head before sprinting into the bathroom. He set her in the tub; she coughed up another round of blood before relaxing back into the tub. He sighed watching her for a while, "how she's still alive is beyond me… clearly her other personality is more then a just a mindless animal. Lazard is it possible for a mako born entity to become conscious?"

"I've heard of it, apparently Ariella here is a living case," Lazard commented watching her.

"It would seem so, however there is still something we need to take care of, Zack, I need you to do something very important," Sephiroth looked at the young First Class.

"What'dya need General?" He asked standing up and tilting his spiky black head.

He looked over at Lazard, the cravat wearing blond nodded, Sephiroth returned his gaze to Zack, "I need you to head down to the archives when you finish patrol and grab every book you can about stagnant mako, mako based mutations anything of the sort."

Zack stood up saluting, "yes sir!" He trotted out of the room once again leaving Lazard and Sephiroth alone.

Lazard also stood up, "I'm going to go collect my paperwork and be back. Keep her in there until it feels like her temperature has gone down."

Now it was just Sephiroth alone with the sleeping Ariella, he stood up and looked down at her. She'd be fine while went to make a sandwich, he left the room silently leaving Ariella by herself. He walked into his kitchen rummaging around for some bread and something to put on it. Eventually he stumbled across some peanut butter and strawberry jelly, he put some on the pieces of bread and put them together. He stood up taking a bite of his sandwich; he started to put the items away before setting about making another one for Ariella in case she woke up.

He carried the second sandwich on a plate back to the bathroom and saw Ariella awake and staring up at the ceiling silently. He set the sandwich down, "I see you're awake."

"'Battle not with monsters… lest ye become a monster… and if you gaze into the abyss… the abyss gazes into you… I am the abyss… you will be lost in the dark… you will be lost inside me…'" She muttered.

"What was that?" Sephiroth asked sitting down watching her.

"A story… the Elders used to speak of it… They said we were the abyss and the one who gazed into it." Ariella muttered.

"I see so then this 'other you' what's she like?" Sephiroth asked somewhat curiously.

Ariella sat there for a moment, chewing slightly on her wet turtleneck shirt. "She's the only one who hasn't run away from me. She loves me, and I love her. It is difficult to explain to someone who doesn't know what it's like."

Sephiroth watched her; he'd never heard someone loving with their alternative personality. It was unusual to say the least, but then again any concept he had of how children supposedly behaved had been blown out of the water by Ariella. "So then you two are close?"

"Yes we are," Ariella looked at him, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.

He nodded, it would explain a lot, including her use of 'we' long after she should have started to us 'I'. "I see… so does she have a name?" He asked, wondering if this was a case of mako possession or straight up multiple personality disorder. He was no psychologist and he certainly wasn't without his problems, but then again who didn't?

She brooded for a moment, "no… she says she doesn't want one."

"But it would help me to distinguish between you two," Sephiroth replied watching her and taking another bite of his sandwich.

Ariella shook her head; "we don't want to be distinguished, for we are one."

Sephiroth sighed, he wasn't so good with this whole parenting thing, he fell silent for a moment picking up the plate and handing it to Ariella, "eat."

She sniffed the sandwich for a moment before shaking her head and huddling up away from Sephiroth, the hollow look in her eyes back almost right away. He sighed setting it down as his PHS rang, he pulled it out of his pocket, "talk to me Fair."

"Um sir this is Sebastian, the Shin-Ra building is under attack," the First Class SOLDIER shouted, the sound of sword fighting clearly audible in the background. "Sir we need your assistance! Zack is on his way here from patrol but sir Genesis and Angeal are here!"

"What? Genesis and Angeal?" Sephiroth shouted before realizing what he said.

Ariella looked up at him wide eyed, she stood up out of the bath, and leaped over the side before sliding on the tile falling to the ground. She shook it off and staggered to her feet, Sephiroth hung up and picked her up, a responsible parent would tell her to get back in the tub and wait. But Sephiroth was neither, so he picked up Ariella piggyback style, went into the living room to grab the Masamune, and went through the door. He ran to the elevator heading for Floor 49, it would seem a natural place to start for their search. He ran forward, Sebastian was clutching a sword wound in his side leaning against the wall, "Ge-General… they're headed for the Archives…" he coughed, a trickle of blood dripping from his mouth.

Sephiroth caught Sebastian and grabbed a Cure materia from his pocket healing the injury, "stay hidden, stay alive." He muttered to the SOLDIER leaning him against the wall in a sitting position.

Sebastian smiled weakly, "you got it…" His hand rose in a shaky salute.

Sephiroth saluted back, Ariella did the same; the former stood up and took off running down the hall to the elevator. They climbed back in and rode it to the Archive level to find themselves greeted by a group of G-Clones. Sephiroth pointed the Masamune at them, "child's play, you underestimate me again Genesis. Hold on tight Ariella, and don't blink or you might miss it." Sephiroth commented softly.

Ariella tensed up on Sephiroth's back, in one fluid step faster then the normal person could see Sephiroth had crossed the room and decimated the G-Clones in front of them. She'd barely caught every swing of the sword that Sephiroth made; there was no denying his speed and power now. He continued running towards the large Archive hall, he burst through the door; to his surprise both Angeal and Genesis were standing there with several books in hand. "Ah Sephiroth it's been a long time. How have you been?" Genesis asked amicably.

Sephiroth's pupils went narrow, "spare me the pleasantries… I have a lot of questions for you two."

"And I've got all you're answers," Genesis replied smirking.

"General… please let me explain," Angeal started hopefully.

"I'm not the one you owe an apology to Angeal, the one you really should say sorry to is her," Sephiroth side stepped to reveal a soaking wet Ariella staring up at him wide eyed.

Angeal stared at her for a moment as they watched each other; he closed his eyes biting his lip before walking away and unfurling his wings flying away. Genesis gave a salute at Sephiroth, "We'll have to do this again some time, do me a favor and get my daughter out of those wet clothes." The red clad renegade flew out of the destroyed piece of wall.

Sephiroth started to give chase until he ran out of ground glared after them, he growled something under his breath when he turned around. Ariella was standing there, tears once again falling silently down her cheeks, Sephiroth opened his mouth to shout something but then closed it, he opened it again before closing it one more time deciding any sort of yelling would only make the situation worse. He knelt down to meet her at eye level, "Ari are you okay?"

She didn't reply.

He put his sword down and then placed his hands gently on her shoulders, "Ari talk to me."

She shook her head sobbing.

The SOLDIER General sighed, "Ariella Hewley, talk to me, are you okay?" He already knew that her actions meant, 'hell no I'm not okay.'

She shivered mouthing, 'Angeal.'

He sighed pulling her into a hug, "for the sake of this child, Angeal, you're coming back whether you like it or not. She needs you. I need you. But not until after I cuff you upside the head and call you an idiot."

He picked Ariella up and walked over to the doors kicking them open to get to the hall; from there he carried her into the elevator. Off into the night sky against the moon he could see two silhouetted figures, flying off into the distance. Sephiroth felt his jaw clench, "I was a fool… I was a fool to think I could ever trust anyone…"

"No… if you are then that makes us a bigger fool then you," came a hoarse whisper by his head.

He turned his head to see Ariella watching him, her mouth having taken to chewing the lip of her still soaked shirt. The door opened onto SOLDIER HQ, where Sephiroth was greeted with several faces he didn't expect. Verdot, Tseng and Zack were all standing around; Sephiroth shifted Ariella to one arm and saluted at Zack. "Well this is unexpected, what brings the Turk command staff to SOLDIER?"

"I wanted to talk with you and Lazard," Verdot replied calmly, "it's about today's break in. I wanted to ask some questions about it."

Sephiroth sighed, "not right now Verdot… I want to talk with Lazard alone at the very least. You two can handle Ariella right. I don't want her involved at the moment."

Verdot nodded, Tseng took Ariella from Sephiroth and watched the General walk away, "take her up to the Vice President's office until this is settled, Reno and Rude are up there as guards."

Tseng nodded, "let's go Ariella."

She ran over to the nearest closet and locked herself in it, the pair of Turks sighed, "Well if they come back she'll be hidden," Tseng commented.

"Yes well we should get into the meeting," Verdot replied seriously and they walked to the briefing room. Lazard, Sephiroth and Zack looked up as the Turks walked in.

"We know what documents were taken," Verdot announced walking over to Lazard, "may I see your computer?"

"What for?" Lazard asked suspiciously.

"To show what documents were taken," Verdot replied.

Lazard nodded grudgingly and backed off as Verdot walked around followed by everyone else. "It was merely three books, all by the same author on similar subjects, stagnant mako and its effects. But there's a problem, those books aren't mainstream, the two they have are the copies that were made for the Shin-Ra Archives by Hojo several years ago. The original three volumes are back in Nibelheim in the Shin-Ra Manor."

"So? What's the difference?" Zack asked.

"The difference is Zack, the originals are different from the copies, once Genesis figures that out then that will be the first place he goes," Lazard answered.

"Well gentlemen, I have to go gather my people and file a report, you can find Ms. Hewley locked in a closet down the hall, you have my blessings to get her out," Verdot commented standing up and walking out followed by Tseng.

Sephiroth turned to Lazard and Zack, "then that should be our next course of action, we should go to Nibelheim and retrieve those reports. From there we can make our next move to get them back."

Zack stood there quietly, "who's going?"

"Me naturally, you Fair, and several other people," Sephiroth replied looking at Lazard, "and anyone you deem absolutely necessary."

Lazard nodded, "I have a few ideas."


	18. Flor Inter Nox et Die

Disclaimer: My ownership is 0. Flor inter nox et die – Flower between night and day.

**A/N** Sorry I haven't updated in a while, my other story came to a close so I've been busy tying up the loose ends of it. From now on this is my complete devotion. Until I get a new idea. And sorry about the shortness of this chapter, I'll get back to full length soon.

Ariella sighed, she wasn't sure how long she'd been in the closet for, and she licked her shirt again. It had been hours since anyone had come by, she sighed, everyone must have forgotten about her. Nero hadn't come by once since the rampage, he would probably never talk to her again. She closed her eyes falling asleep, not hearing the sound of someone coming by, the door opened revealing Nate, and he'd been sentenced to cleaning duties after his initial punishment. "Damn that little… what makes her so special… ah!" He noticed her asleep, this was his big chance to get rid of her once and for all and no one even had to know.

"Ari… wake up Ari," he whispered prodding her in the side gently.

Her eyes snapped open tense as she saw who was poking her, "what do you want?" She growled at him dangerously.

"Take it easy Ariella, I've been looking everywhere for you," he put on his best friendly smile.

She relaxed a little, "you have?"

"Yeah, I decided I was wrong, you beat me enough times that I thought I would do you a favor," Nate whispered looking around. "Haven't you heard?"

"What?" She asked.

"You mean you don't know? The General's furious, the whole First Class is out for your blood," he replied fainting surprise.

"Why?" Ariella asked mildly confused now.

"They're furious, they said it's your fault that Angeal left, they're also saying that last night's break in was you're fault and that Lieutenant Rhapsodos and Angeal came here to kill you," he whispered in his most honest sounding tone.

Ariella paled, body going rigid, "i-it's my f-fault?"

"Yeah they want you dead," he nodded.

"W-What…" she choked.

He got a slightly sinister look, "if you run now then they'll never find you. Hurry, the stairs are the best way to go."

She stood up and scrambled out of the closet and through the door for the stairs flying down them. She had been right after all, she coughed as she reached the bottom of the long set of emergency stairs. Staggering to her feet she felt sick and threw up, glaring at the bile for a moment she opened the door in front of her and walked out. She looked up at the building and bit her lip shaking her head; she couldn't go back, besides now there was no one to go back to. Nero hadn't said a word to her in weeks, and everyone was about to kill her, Angeal had left because of her. Genesis it seemed pretty obvious that he didn't care about her, she walked out into the pale sunlit street. She wandered down the streets, dodging people and cars heading towards who knows where.

Eventually the sidewalk went downhill and she tripped on the way off of the sidewalk, she stood up trying to get the sharp nasty tang of mud in her mouth. Shaking her head she walked through the significantly darker area of the slums, she cut through a vaguely familiar alleyway with a boarded up side, slipping through the gap she saw a church with faint scent of flowers. The closer she got to it though the more she felt like she was being watched, nevertheless she wandered up the steps of the church and pushed open the massive doors effortlessly. Ariella wandered in and saw the flowers; she crept over to them before lying down next to them exhausted.

A short while later a girl with brown hair and green eyes in a blue and white dress walked into the church. She spotted Ariella as she approached the flowers, "Ariella is that you?" Ariella's head snapped up and her body tensed, the motion sent a wave of nausea through her. She gazed around spotting Aerith but not sensing any ill will from her she put her head back down.

Aerith walked over to her and bent down, "are you okay? You seem a little upset?"

Ariella shifted slightly, puffing her Cockatrice feathers out of her face.

Aerith sighed, "it's Mr. Hewley isn't it?"

She judged by the way Ariella went rigid at the mention of Angeal that yes it had something to do with him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ariella shifted in a defensive fashion.

"I take that as a no. Then do you want to talk about something else?" the Cetra asked looking at Ariella curiously.

Ariella curled up a little more in another show of negativity.

"Well then do you want to come home with me?" She asked the younger girl.

Ariella shifted curled up as tight as she could.

Aerith tilted her head to get a better look at Ariella, "well then, do you intend to just sit here until you die?"

Ariella gave a slight nod.

"That's no good, after all if you die then what good will it do? It doesn't matter who it is, someone will be sad if you die," Aerith commented thoughtfully, green eyes meeting blue and green.

"There's no one who would cry for us," Ariella muttered so faintly that Aerith could barely hear her. "No one would miss us…"

Aerith looked at Ariella sadly, "well if something happened to you I would cry. And these flowers would cry too. You're precious to a lot of people."

The younger girl sat up, "you would?"

"I would, because no matter what it is, if someone dies someone else will always cry for them," Aerith smiled gingerly pulling Ariella into a hug and stroking her hair.

"We would cry if something happened to you too…" Ariella muttered throwing her arms around the flower girl hugging her tightly. She looked up at the Cetra wide eyed, Ariella felt a flush creep up her face before she leaned back looking at the floor intently.

The Cetra smiled, "now then, let's go back to my home, you look like you haven't eaten in days." She stood up smiling at Ariella.

The girl nodded and followed her out of the church and back to her home, Ariella felt her eyes go wide at how green it was. "Wow," she whispered as they walked inside of the house.

Aerith smiled at Ariella from the kitchen, she tossed the younger girl an apple, "here try this."

She caught it and nodded taking a bite, "it's sweet."

"They're brought in from outside of the city by a friend of my mother's," she smiled watching Ariella hastily scarf down the apple eating even the core and seeds. "Well you sure are easy to clean up after. I'll go see what else we have so I can start dinner, make yourself at home."

Ariella walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out one that looked mildly interesting and busied looking at it. Aerith smiled picking out some vegetables to make some soup with, she'd finished making the vegetable stock and was letting it boil. She'd gone over to Ariella and was telling her about the things in the book. Or rather it was an exchange of stories about the various things since the book was a nature photography book.

They turned to a picture of a lion, Ariella's eyes brightened, "this is our mother!"

"Youe mother is a lion?" Aerith asked a little confused.

"Well… she was a mother to us, we were there when this was taken see," Ariella pointed to some tall grass in the background, a very faintly visible picture of her crouched in the grass could be seen. "We were told to hide but we ended up in this picture it would seem."

"So it would seem you're a celebrity," Aerith smiled pulling Ariella into a hug.

"Aerith, I'm home," Elmyra Gainsborough called from the door, "be a dear and help with the bags."

Aerith stood up and gave Ariella's hair a ruffle before turning and jogging to the door and helping her mother carry things inside. "So then what did you get for dinner?"

"Well there were some things I managed to find," the elder replied as they set about using the vegetable stock. Aerith smiled as she and Elmyra started setting out dinner, it was a simple meal of bread and various vegetables. But to Ariella it smelled like food, she stood up and walked in cautiously, Elmyra smiled, "it would seem we have an unexpected visitor, well I suppose it's a good thing I bought extra." She beckoned Ariella over to the table.

Ariella in an almost fearful manner walked up to the table and sat down feeling horribly out of place, she smiled a little before sighing and looking at the ground. The whole family atmosphere was making her uncomfortable, it reminded her of just a short time ago in Banora with Angeal and Gillian. Sighing she shifted around and grabbed a piece of bread before darting out of the room and up the stairs, she came to a window, putting the bread in her mouth she clambered up onto the roof and sat down ripping into it and scarfing it down before feeling sick. She leaned over feeling sick but swallowed it down.

Aerith sighed, "I'm not sure what's wrong with her but it would have to something bad to make her come here."

Elmyra watched her daughter, "Aerith, her father is a SOLDIER, and you know what that means. I don't like the idea of them coming here."

"I can't just leave her though," the Cetra replied honestly.

"I don't want the Shin-Ra causing any more trouble then they already do for you," the older lady replied, "please, she can stay the night but after that I want you to show her the way up to the plate. I'm sure she can find her way home from there."

Aerith opened her mouth to protest, "I… I understand… I'm going to go find her and tell her." She stood up from the table and headed upstairs seeing the open window. "Ariella are you up here?"

Ariella leaned over the edge, "um up here."

Aerith smiled and hoisted herself up onto the roof too, "so you like it up here?"

"When we were down there… it hurt… we don't know why…" Ariella muttered watching her feet intently.

"Losing the person you care most for is hard. My biological mother returned to the planet when I was young. But I still care a lot about my mother," Aerith commented. "Whatever happens you can't let it hold you back forever. No matter what happens if you never leave it and try and change the world nothing will ever change."

Ariella shifted uncomfortably, "but it already has…"

"Hmm, well maybe you're just not looking in the right spot," Aerith giggled jabbing Ariella in the forehead with two fingers. "You seem to think more with your head, rather then your heart. I say you stop trying to think about it so much and just trust yourself on it. You know what you should do so stop running and find Mr. Hewley, kick him in the shin and bring him back home."

Ariella's eyes lit up, "so if he is kicked in the shins and brought back it will all go back to normal?"

"It should," Aerith smiled at her. "Let's get some sleep, tomorrow you can start back on the road to getting him home."

Ariella nodded, they climbed off the roof and went into Aerith's bedroom, and Aerith lay down on the bed while Ariella curled up snugly on the floor drifting off almost right away.


	19. Expulsus Miles

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sorry. Expulsus miles - Expelled Soldier

**A/N:** Sorry for the infrequent updates and short chapters… A lot of stuff's been happening and I've been trying to get a lot of stuff done.

However the time that Ariella was away was not a peaceful one for Shin-Ra at all as the events of the previous day unfolded. Zack walked out of the barracks after the meeting with Lazard and Sephiroth to determine the Angeal recovery squad. He saw Nate happily mopping the floor near the supply closet by Lazard's office. His brows furrowed as he saw Nate whistling and mopping like it was the next great phenomenon. "Hey Nate!"

He looked up at Zack, "ah good morning Zack! It's a lovely day isn't it?"

Zack's expression grew suspicious; Nate for one thing never would use the words, 'good morning' or make small talk unless two things happened. "You're awfully chipper this morning. Did you get laid?"

"No, just having a positive turn of events," Nate replied brightly.

Zack's eyes narrowed, if it wasn't that then it had to be the other thing, "where's Ariella?"

"Dunno, she ran off this morning saying something about how she hated everyone here," he commented casually, "personally I say good bye and good riddance."

Zack grabbed Nate and pinned him up against the wall, "you better hope she left of her own accord or I'll beat your sorry ass to the Lifestream and back." He glared at his subordinate for a moment before running off to Sephiroth's office, conveniently located next to Lazard's. "Seph we gotta problem!"

Sephiroth looked up from his paperwork, "what is it?"

"Ariella's vanished! I think Nate may have driven her out!" Zack shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Calm yourself Zack, we'll check around, he could have been lying to get some positive attention," Sephiroth commented.

"But you don't understand sir, the way he said it and the way he was acting make me suspect it," Zack replied. "He seemed in too good a mood for it to be a coincidence."

Sephiroth considered it; "alright then we'll check the surveillance tape of the camera down the hall for the last 24 hours. We're liable to turn something up."

A few minutes later they were standing in one of the security tape review rooms watching intently, they saw Ariella escape from Tseng and lock herself in the closet before walking away. They fast-forwarded after they watched themselves leave the office, after all no one had come in since then, until earlier that morning, they saw Nate looking severely disgruntled until he opened the closet. It looked like he was talking, until they saw Ariella fly past him to the stairs and disappearing. Nate stood, up and grabbed a mop humming and smiling.

Zack smashed his fists into the table as he stood up, "bastard! He practically forced her out! That…" Zack started into a tirade of insults about what specifically Nate was and several insults about his mother, "Seph, I'm declaring him for removal!"

Sephiroth watched his vehement friend, "I can understand your reasoning, and Ariella's got enough on her plate. We can file the paperwork for discharge later, right now go find Nate, I'll gather the other First and Second Class."

Zack nodded and ran out of the room, Sephiroth watched him go, he stood up sighing, Nate had been a problem since day one. Nothing they did as far as discipline had affected his behavior at all; they'd almost thrown him out of Third Class for abusing several of the smaller members. His track record didn't spell good things; Sephiroth wondered how in the world he'd always managed to avoid serious action. Either way it was about time for Nate to be taken care of once and for all. Sephiroth pulled out his PHS and opened it, "Lazard it's me, get everyone not out in the field to the main hall, Nate Jackson's been called out for removal."

Shortly after the call Sephiroth and Lazard stood side-by-side watching the SOLDIERs assemble in the bleachers. Zack and Daniel stood on one end of the arena; Daniel seemed to be giving Zack a last minute bit of advice. On the opposite side stood Nate, alone and muttering to himself as he geared up. Sephiroth and Lazard walked forward to the middle of the arena, the whole room hushed instantly.

"Thank you for all taking time out of your busy day to join us, as you all know the only way out of SOLDIER is either death in combat or discharge. However if there is a transgression a senior officer may report you for discharge at any time, Mr. Zack Fair will you please tell the assembly why you have recommended Mr. Nate Jackson for disciplinary discharge." Lazard announced to the room at large.

Zack walked forward glaring at Nate for a moment, "yes sir. I have recommended Mr. Nate Jackson for disciplinary discharge due to his transgressions and violence towards Ariella Hewley as well as an overall lack of respect for SOLDIER protocol!"

"The match between the accuser and accused will be full contact with no time limit, first to yield will decide the match," Lazard shouted before beating a hasty retreat out of the ring. Sephiroth stepped forward, arms bent in front of him, he tilted them, Zack bowed with his sword pointing up, Nate didn't bow but rather took an early swing at Zack's bowed head.

Zack sensing the attack leaped back away from Nate, giving a hasty bow to Sephiroth he blocked Nate's new incoming attack. Nate pulled back and swung again full force, Zack spun out of the way and smashed his wooden sword into the back of Nate's head. Nate staggered to his feet swaying from the hit, there was no way he was giving up just yet, he blinked slowly but couldn't find Zack, the First Class SOLDIER had come up behind Nate and clocked him in the head with one solid strike. Nate felt his throat constrict and his world went black.

"You come near Ariella again and you'll get your ass kicked twice as hard," Zack muttered before turning to Sephiroth.

"That was unusually quick for you Fair, you were only recently promoted, yet you finished it in two hits," Sephiroth commented as Nate's body was removed by the medical technicians.

Zack shrugged watching Nate hauled off, "Ariella's the last tie I have to Angeal… I can't lose her…"

Sephiroth nodded, his gaze softening, "I know how you feel, we'll get her back Zack… if not for my sanity then for yours…"

"I didn't think you liked kids," Zack commented as they left the hall.

"Most of the time I find them under foot but Ariella was one of the less pesky ones." Sephiroth replied.

"Admit it you like having her around," Zack taunted.

"Save it Fair unless you dislike your tongue," Sephiroth replied.

Zack clapped his hands over his mouth as they entered Sephiroth's office. "We'll start looking tomorrow, I want the effect of Jackson's discharge to sink in." Sephiroth commented.

"I hear you sir… do you think she's alright?" Zack asked looking out the window, "she's so innocent, and Midgar ain't exactly safe."

Sephiroth looked out the window, "my intuition says if she's anything like Angeal she'll be just fine."

Zack nodded, "alright then, I'll catch you later." He was going to get some sleep before his early start tomorrow.

Sephiroth nodded watching Zack go, he swiveled his chair around and looked out the window, "Angeal… Genesis… what happened?" He muttered, as he remembered not so long ago.

_I stood atop the mako cannon in Junon pacing the length of the barrel, the sting of salt air in my nose. Angeal and Genesis were behind me, Angeal watching amused, Genesis perusing through Loveless._

" _「__The mysterious abyss tis the Gift of the Goddess. In pursuit of this gift we take flight. Within the heart's water surface a hopeless wander will flow. Like ripples to waves come forth the dreams below.__」__ " __Genesis quoted loudly._

"_「__Loveless__」__Act 1," I groaned, he did this every bloody day._

_Genesis just laughed slightly at me, "Painful is it?"_

_I laughed again tapping my head, "Having to hear you read it everyday… I have no choice but to remember just how painful it is."_

_Angeal sighed, "Don't go swing your sword too recklessly." He cautioned_

_Genesis rolled his eyes putting away Loveless, "Whatever." He drew his rapier; Angeal grabbed his claymore, Buster Sword still on his back._

"_Now. How about putting away that toy sword?" I jested noting the claymore._

_Angeal smiled at Genesis, "As expected of Sephiroth huh?" They charged me, I blocked them both, and one would swing for my head while the other went for my body. No big deal, I just fought them away. Then Genesis did something odd._

_He stepped in front of Angeal, "Angeal, stand back please. I'd like to have a duel with Sephiroth."_

"_Genesis!" Angeal exclaimed._

_Genesis gazed at me intently with a smirk, "I too would like to become a hero."_

"_Fine by me." I shrugged; I had nothing to prove with it._

_Genesis smirked, "That laxness of yours, how long do you think you can keep it up?"_

_Genesis flew at me head on, we exchanged blows for a moment before he sliced open the cannon and I started to descend rapidly. I wouldn't be beaten so easily; I flew forward slicing open the cannon more, I clashed with Genesis again for a moment hovering in the air as he leaped at me. All of a sudden he launched a Homing Fire3 spell at me. I blocked the first few but all of a sudden they were everywhere. Not knowing what else to do I braced as they call connected hard._

_Outside of the fire I could hear Angeal, "Stop this. Are you trying to destroy the building?"_

_Genesis roared over the inferno filling my ears, "All I want is to be a hero!"_

_This was going to get messy quickly unless I ended it; bringing my beloved Masamune around I sliced away the flames heading straight for Genesis in another clash._

_Angeal shouted as he jumped between Genesis and I, "That's enough!!"_

"_Angeal!" I shouted as my overhead slash hit his Buster Sword._

_Genesis's attack clashed with Angeal's claymore, "You're in my way!"_

_Angeal glared at him, "Genesis!!"_

_The tip of Angeal's claymore broke off as Genesis tried to attack him; it flew in the air and hit his shoulder. After all the fighting and a renegade bit of steel the simulation faltered leaving us standing in the damaged training room. Genesis was curled in a hunch on the ground clutching his shoulder. He staggered to his feet heading for the door._

_He stopped in front of me, "It's just a small scratch. If I just leave it alone it'll quickly heal. __「__Nothing shall foretell my return. Even if the morrow is barren of promises.__」"_

_And with that he left the room, leaving Angeal and I behind silently._

Sephiroth sighed, "was it then we broke apart from one another?" He took the pencil he'd been balancing off of his nose and stood up. Quietly he crossed to the door flicking off the lights and closing the door locking it. He gazed out the window one last time before turning and walking to his apartment to get some sleep.


	20. Pennae Sperati

Pennae Sperati - Wings of Hope

Ariella looked up at Aerith nervously, "are you sure we have to go back?"

"If they hate you then you're more then welcome to come with me," she smiled at the younger girl.

"But we… I… er…" the youth faltered watching the Cetra nervously.

"Don't worry, here, I want you to have this Ariella," Aerith smiled bringing one of her hands forward and draping something around Ariella's neck, it was an iridescent silver chain, two silver wings, one large and one small hung from it. "It took a bit of cleaning but I got it to look nice."

Ariella nodded, Aerith had gone to the church then they had returned home for lunch before sending Ariella back up to the Acro. She'd watched Aerith searching through the house as they finished up their meal. "Thank you, we will think of you and Angeal when we see it."

Aerith smiled, "well then, I'll see you later, I want you to give Mr. Hewley a message from me, 'Remember your pride and dreams and hold onto it'. You can find your way from here?"

"Yes we will and it's not far from here," Ariella wrapped her arms around Aerith smiling before jogging away towards the way to the Acro.

She ran past the train station, the entrance to Shin-Ra was close to a train stop as she remembered it, but she didn't have any money. And she'd seen people pay if they wanted to get on the train, but there was another way on. She leaped up onto the train car and sat down on the top. She leaned against one of the stacks coming from the car as the train flew towards Shin-Ra. Finally she pulled her hair back to it's normal shape and slid off of the train.

"Ari! Ari! Ari!" A child's voice called zipping through the people. She spun around to see her younger brother Kai running towards her.

He almost tackled her as he hugged her, "hello Kai, what are you doing here?" She asked as he looked up at her.

"Dad just got his job transferred here… he works for Shin-Ra as a scientist, I'm heading home from school but I got lost… We're living in the Shin-Ra apartments now," He sighed looking at the ground.

Ariella watched him, it was clear he didn't like this change in his life, "you mean… Mom's here…"

"Yeah, but she's back at Shin-Ra working. So I didn't know you lived here Ari," Kai commented drawing the subject from their family as they left the train station holding hands.

"We used to live elsewhere but… we've been living at Shin-Ra too, SOLDIER to be exact," Ariella replied as they continued along.

"You mean the SOLDIER! Like General Sephiroth SOLDIER?!" he exclaimed as they neared the Shin-Ra building. "Can you take me there?! Please? I'll be good I swear!"

She watched him, well it would kill two birds with one stone, they wouldn't murder her in front of her younger brother and she could take him around SOLDIER. They walked through the streets and made it to the building; at that moment as they entered Zack Fair was leaving the elevator. He stopped as he saw the pair of them walking towards him, "Ari! You're all right! Nate didn't hurt you!" He picked her up and pulled her into a bear hug.

"We're fine… but you… you don't blame us for Angeal, do you?" She whispered nervously.

He laughed, "nah, not in a billion years!" He set her down, "whose you're mini?"

"Kai," her brother squeaked.

"Zack… this is Kai, he's our brother," she smiled at the SOLIDER.

He grinned and ruffled Kai's hair, "pleasure to meet the young brother of the princess. So where were you two off to?"

Kai turned red and shrank behind Ariella, she looked up at Zack, "we were just on our way to the SOLDIER area. Kai wanted to see it."

Zack grinned, "Well that's perfect! We can tell everyone you're peachy and give the prince a tour of the castle." He turned walking towards the elevators followed by Ariella leading Kai.

They rode up the elevator to SOLDIER quietly, Kai gazing out the window mesmerized, Ariella watching him and Zack watching them both. The doors opened up and they stepped out onto Floor 49. "Welcome back to your castle in the sky," Zack jested as they left the elevator.

Ariella watched Kai entranced by the SOLDIER headquarters, "wow you live here?!"

"Yes, welcome to SOLDIER," Ariella smiled at him.

Zack waved over at the people coming down the hall, "Seph, Danny look whose back!"

Daniel ran over and picked Ariella up, "welcome back kid! We were worried about you! Whose you're buddy?"

Sephiroth watched Kai for a minute, "indeed, what's your name?"

"K-Kai… Kai Morgan sir…" he squeaked attempting to appear smaller.

"So the flame born from the sea," Sephiroth grinned slightly, "it's a good name, so then what are you doing with Ari?"

"She…" he fell silent looking half ashamed half embarrassed.

Sephiroth looked at Ariella, "well?"

"He's our younger brother," she replied firmly.

The SOLIDER Commander looked the child over, he could see the resemblance, they shared the same eyes and hair for the most part and he could see the same thin build in both of them. Kai more cleaned up as far as appearance went; his school uniform had recently gone through the press and dry cleaners. "There's definitely a resemblance between you two."

Kai just about fainted at the compliment from Sephiroth Ariella smiled slightly as he tried to regain his composure. The little boy checked his moogle watch before his eyes went wide, "oh no! I told my parents I'd be home by five thirty! It's five forty five!" He scrambled around, "what floor is the scientific dormitory?"

Ariella blinked as Daniel set her down, "we know what level that is, we can walk you home."

Kai smiled showing where his two front teeth had barely started to poke through his gums, "okay!"

Ariella took his hand and they walked over to the elevator, Sephiroth nodded slightly at Zack and he went with them into the cart. Sephiroth remembered when Angeal had come back from Banora; he knew Ariella's family situation wasn't a happy one.

The doors closed and the trio descended the ten floors to the main dormitory level, Kai walked out and looked around, "okay we're clear!"

Zack and Ariella walked out after him hearing voices coming down the hall, Ariella paled and hid behind Zack. She recognized one of them; "I hope Kai had a good first day of school." Darcia's voice drifted down the hall.

"I'm sure he did fine, he's the son we've always wanted, he probably made a ton of friends." Came the voice of Jacob.

Kai ran out from where he'd been by the elevator, "Mama, Papa, I'm back!" He called running to them.

"Welcome home sweetie, how was your day?" Darcia asked taking his hand.

"Fine, how was your day?" Kai asked as they walked away down the hall.

Jacob glanced back at Zack before shaking his blond head dismissing the SOLDIER, Zack glanced down feeling something shaking next to him, Ariella had started sobbing again, "Angeal…" she muttered.

Zack sighed picking her up and headed for the elevator, "I know… I miss him too… but Seph's got a plan to get him back. Angeal will be back in no time, promise."

Ariella scrunched up some of his shirt and blew her nose, the doors opened up and someone collided with Zack, "Ari! Ari! Ari!" Nero shouted looking up at Zack, "is she okay?"

He nodded setting Ariella down, she watched Nero for a moment, "hey Nero…"

"Hey you okay?" he asked concerned.

"Fine," she muttered.

Nero looked at the ground, his shadow flicking gently, "I'm sorry… I was bad friend, you needed help and I ran away."

"No worries, you came back, that's all that counts," Ariella replied.

Weiss sighed, "come on Nero, let's get some dinner, you can see Ariella later." He put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

"See ya later Ari!" He smiled before leaving with Weiss.

Zack smiled, "come on, Seph's worried about you." He walked the girl back to Sephiroth's apartment. "I brought Ari!" He shouted.

Sephiroth opened up, he was standing there in dress pants and his black shirt was unbuttoned, "alright, get going Fair."

Zack nodded scurrying off, Sephiroth looked at Ariella for a moment, ushered her inside and shut the door, "okay, I have a big dinner to go to, there should be something to eat in the fridge, don't break anything and I should be back soon." He commented doing up the buttons on his shirt before throwing on his familiar jacket. She sighed and walked over to the couch picking up Kupo, her beloved moogle doll. Sephiroth watched her sighing, "You don't want to be here alone do you?"

Ariella looked up and shook her head, he sighed, "if you behave then you come, hurry up and take a shower." She smiled and ran to the bathroom, he sighed, "I wonder if this was how you felt Angeal?" He pondered picking up Kupo and holding him.

Ariella returned a few minutes later, freshly washed and wearing a fresh turtleneck and jeans. "Ready when you are."

He nodded handing her Kupo, "let's hurry on then." They walked out of the apartment and headed to the lobby, Lazard in a full suit watched Sephiroth; he glanced down towards a bobbing black and red head clutching a moogle doll.

"Ariella?" He asked Sephiroth.

The larger man shrugged, "I couldn't leave her home alone. Besides can you really say no to this face?"

"Be it on your own head then," Lazard replied as they left the building. A few minutes later they had walked across the street to the nicest restaurant in Midgar, fortunately no one noticed Ariella, who'd hidden herself under Sephiroth's coat.

The SOLDIER Command staff sat down at the table, Ariella sat down next to Sephiroth completely invisible to the others at the table save for the people sitting near them. Namely Tseng, Verdot and Lazard, Verdot smiled at Ariella and gave her a little wave. She grinned slightly at him. The waiters were coming around to the group taking orders, Sephiroth glanced up making sure Ariella was covered, "a bottle of your Conundrum and some water please. Oh and a glass of milk." He ordered calmly watching the mildly confused look on the waiter's face.

A short while later the bottle of wine accompanied by water and milk arrived, Sephiroth glanced at the waiter, "can I have a straw?"

The waiter gave him a confused look handing him the straw, "anything else?"

"Yes I think I would like the Kahuna Platter for dinner," Sephiroth handed off the menu watching the waiter's growing confusion at his orders. Sephiroth waited and unwrapped the straw sticking it in the milk handing it to Ariella, "here this should help."

She accepted the glass and sipped it thoughtfully, Sephiroth took a sip of his wine smiling at her, and they sat in silence enjoying the conversations around him only engaging when necessary. Finally the service brought out a giant platter with flames shooting out of it, they set it down in front of Sephiroth, "your Kahuna Platter sir."

He nodded watching the flames, as soon as the rest of the food was brought out, President Shin-Ra stood up looking like he was about to make a speech. Sephiroth sighed as the speech started about how he was grateful for the contributions everyone had made to Shin-Ra; the SOLDIER watched the flames from his platter for a moment before pointing at the fire and playing with it. He moved it down to where it was barely a fizzle then up to its original size. He watched Ariella gazing at the flame, he grinned and flicked a spark at her, moved out of the way before flicking a spark back at him. It hit his coat quietly, his eyes narrowed at her. "It's on now."

He flicked a bigger spark at her, she flicked a spark of equal size at his and they flew apart, Verdot leaned over to Tseng, "five gil says one destroys the place before the speech is over."

Tseng chucked, "that's a pathetic bet sir, I'm not taking it until you put some real money on it."

The fighting escalated to small fireballs, President Shin-Ra hadn't noticed but Reeve, Rufus and Lazard were having a hard time keeping focused on the task at hand. Verdot leaned over to Tseng again, "ten gil for Ari."

"No sir," Tseng shook his head.

Verdot grimaced, "twenty?" Tseng shook his head, "fifty?" Verdot offered, Tseng looked like he was about to consider but shook his head, "a hundred?"

Tseng pondered for a moment, "Deal, a hundred on the General."

Verdot grinned as they shook hands; Ariella meanwhile blocked a fireball from Sephiroth from hitting her Kupo. She made a rather large fireball and chucked it at Sephiroth, for the SOLDIER it felt like the world had frozen for a moment, he could see the fireball slowly spinning in place before slowly flying towards him, just as slowly but with grace he moved out of the way by leaning back in his chair. He watched it fly over his head before hitting Hojo in the back and lighting his coat on fire as he walked to the bathroom.

To the people watching, this happened in the blink of an eye, Hojo walked away unaware of his flaming ensemble, that was until he ran around screaming his head off and jumped out the window in panic. After that though the evening passed quietly, the rest of the executives were too drunk to care, and Verdot couldn't stop grinning as Tseng handed over his one hundred gil. Eventually Ariella and Sephiroth made their way back to Sephiroth's apartment and settled in for the night, Ariella on the couch and Sephiroth comfortably in his bed.


	21. Reducere Familia

Reducere Familia – To Lead Back Family

Sephiroth looked at Weiss intently, "I'm not going to lie to you, it will be a difficult and dangerous mission, you're leaving tonight, this mission is dangerous and it requires an elite team. The members I've assigned to you are still young as are you but we need the older staff here to keep the peace."

Weiss nodded looking behind him, Zack and Daniel were standing behind him, "so it's just us four sir?"

"Yes, we're going on our own, under the pretense of a training mission," Sephiroth replied. Crouched behind a stack of crates sat Ariella and Nero watching the group intently.

"You know what this means Ari?" Nero asked.

"They're going after Angeal…" she muttered.

He nodded, "yeah, and they're gonna leave us behind… again."

She sighed, "we're sick of being left out of everything… the last time they left Angeal never came back. Neither of us will let that happen again!"

Nero nodded watching the SOLDIERs springing to a salute, he leaped over the crates, Ariella blinked running after him, "Nero!"

"Hey we're coming too!" He shouted running up to the line.

She grinned joining him, "and you'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!"

"Anyway, you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission… quest… thing!" Nero added.

Ariella laughed, "Well that rules Zack out."

The SOLDIER glared at them, "hey!"

Sephiroth watched them, "what makes you two think that you can join us on a mission of this caliber?"

"Nero's an awesomely strong fighter and we're no slouch," Ariella glared at Sephiroth sternly.

The Commander watched them for a moment; Ariella was his best bet at convincing Angeal to come back. Nero would keep her company, what was he thinking? Taking little kids on a dangerous mission, but that look in their eyes, "Fair was this your idea?"

Zack shook his head, "no sir! I didn't even know they were in the room!"

Sephiroth nodded, "alright then… let's get ready to roll out."

Ariella tugged at the hem of Sephiroth's coat, "there's someone else I want to bring along too!"

Sephiroth raised his eyebrow, "who?"

An hour later they were standing around in the First Class Medical Wing, "come on please?" Ariella pleaded.

Of all the people they could be visiting, Dante Kobold, the former SOLDIER First Class and Restrictor was sitting in a medical bed glaring at Ariella, "why should I help any of you? Three of you committed insubordination under my rule, and the other two don't look very bright."

Nero and Weiss looked at each other, they'd spent years under the tyranny of the Restrictors so why was Ariella inviting one to join them? Sephiroth raised an eyebrow; he hadn't expected Ariella to want him. Zack was clenching his fist at the insult he been dealt, Daniel had his hand on Zack's shoulder restraining him.

"Please, remember what happened when you fought Angeal? Don't you want to give some payback? If you don't come with us then you may never get another chance to get him back for it." Ariella replied cunningly.

Dante closed his mako blue eyes running a hand through his brown hair, "for the love of Ifrit I can't believe I'm about to say this but… If you'll stop looking at me like some damn hopeless puppy then I'll go with you."

Ariella nodded, "alright then!" She stood up off of the bed and scampered out of the room grinning.

Dante looked out the window as the group left, "what's going through your head, Master?" He watched the clouds rolling through the sky, "it was nearly five years ago wasn't it? Time flies…" he leaned back against the pillows before kicking himself out of bed grabbing his clothes off of the chair and changing out of his hospital gown. He slid his twin gunblades through the special holster on the back of his black and electric blue lined jacket and walked out of the room, the sound of boots fading as he left down the hall.

A few hours later the mismatched crew of warriors stood in the armory gathering up any sort of things they still needed, Sephiroth watched as Nero selected some guns, typically frowned upon in SOLDIER however he had heard Nero had been trained on them in Deepground. Zack, Daniel, and Weiss loaded up on their claymores and armor. Dante was leaning against the wall looking completely unconcerned about anything. Ariella stood by the weapons rack examining the entire selection, she eyed them all closely before walking over to a bolted door, "what's in here?"

"Nothing, just some old weapons from the early days of Shin-Ra, why? You seriously weren't thinking of trying one of them?" Sephiroth replied.

Ariella nodded, "none of the weapons here are suitable so we wish to go into there." Sephiroth shrugged, he removed the bolt and flicked on the lights, she walked briskly to the very back of the room to a rather unusual nodachi, the handle looked like a long dragon's neck with the pommel as the head. The hand guard was the wings and forearms; the sheath covered the rest of the body. The handle looked to be covered in dust too.

"Ari that weapon's way too big for you," Nero had poked his head in watching. "Not to mention it's all old and crappy, get something cool like a gunblade or something!"

She glanced back before grabbing the sword and strapping it to her back through the thin cord. Sephiroth watched her, "Ariella that sword is so disused that it's rusted into the sheath. Even I can't get it out. Get something else and let's go."

Ariella shook her head and walked out with the hunk of junk sword, Sephiroth shook his head, and they had no time to waste anymore. The airship would be leaving with or without them soon. "Alright then, be it on your own head kid, let's roll out."

The group left the armory and headed out to the airship platform, Ariella nearly fell over trying to look at the massive ship. Nero grabbed her by the sword, "cool isn't it? It's an airship; I still find it pretty sweet to see one of these things fly! I've never ridden on one before!"

Weiss picked his little brother up onto his shoulders, "see I kept my promise, we get to ride on an airship."

Nero grinned, "yep! You're the best big brother!" He wrapped his arms around Weiss's head and buried his face in the SOLDIER's white blond hair.

Ariella watched them all the way up the gangplank to the deck of the airship. She glanced past them to see Daniel and Zack joking about something or another. She was still watching the airship wearily, Dante glanced at her for a moment glaring before continuing up the plank, Sephiroth had led the group up and was now inside. She sighed and started to walk up.

"Ari! Ari! Wait!" Came a faint cry, she spun around to find Kai sprinting to her, "wait… I… want… to… give… you… something…"

"Kai? What is it?" She asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

He looked up at her, "my… lucky charm…" he pulled out what looked like a small glowing black rock.

She took it and wrapped her arms around him, "thank you Kai. Promise you'll behave and protect the place in our stead?"

He nodded smiling, "you got it sister! You come back safe, promise?"

She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his, "promise. We must go, you get inside." He hugged her back.

They broke apart, Ariella charged up the gangplank and Kai retreated to the door watching the airship fire off its engines and take off. "You better come back in one piece or I'll never forgive you!" He shouted before running back inside as the airship vanished into the setting sun.

However not all was going well on the airship, the engines worked fine, the mechanics all in top shape, nothing was wrong with the ship. The problem lay with Ariella; she locked herself in the lavatory throwing up. Zack and Nero stood around outside, "is she okay?" Nero asked looking up at Zack.

Zack shrugged, "oy Ari knock once for yes I'm fine and twice for no I'm not fine."

Two hard thuds came through the door.

Nero watched the door concerned, "hey Ari you sure you don't want me to come in there?"

Two more raps on the door deterred the twelve year old from opening the door. Daniel walked up nervously, "um I have some medicine if that would help."

The door opened slightly and Ariella stuck her head out watching Daniel for a moment, he held out a small bag of powdered Yerba Mansa roots. He mixed up some of the powdered root with some water in a cup and handed it to her. She sniffed it and drank it, "thank you… we used to use this all the time to help with our stomach…." She muttered still feeling nauseous.

"No problem, my family was all a bunch of doctors so I'm happy to help where I can," Daniel smiled at her, mako glowing brown eyes softening.

"We'll be outside if you need us though… some fresh air should help…" she muttered heading for the deck.

Nero watched her for a moment before starting to jog after her, when Weiss put his hand down on his younger brother's shoulder. "Wait Nero," he whispered.

"Why? I want to help Ariella," Nero huffed determined.

Weiss sighed running a hand through his white hair, "it's hard to explain… it's technically impossible for someone who has mako in their system to get airsick. Right now she's got more of a psychological illness."

"What does that mean?" Nero asked his brother clinging to his arm.

"It means that she still misses Angeal, the stress all these events is probably taking its toll on Ariella, I'd say let her get some air and sleep," Weiss replied before ruffling Nero's hair, "which reminds me, we need to get you to sleep too, if this ship crashes it's where we want to be when it happens."

"But I'm not sle-sleepy," Nero yawned.

Weiss shook his head, "of course not, now let's get you to bed my little sleepyhead of a brother."

"Aww but I wanna talk to Ari! Besides if I gotta to go to sleep then she should too!" Nero whined.

Weiss sighed, "Nero could you try acting your age?"

"Sorry… I'm just worried about her is all…" he muttered.

Weiss smiled ruffling Nero's hair again, "you can talk in the morning. For now get some rest, we'll be on the Western Continent when you wake up."

Nero glared at him indignantly, "but what if I wake up before that?"

"Then you wake up before we get there," Weiss shrugged as he ushered Nero into a cabin and into a bed.

Nero sighed and clambered under the covers and gazed at the waxing Gibbous moon out the window. "Hey Weiss… I gotta question…"

"Fire away," Weiss replied from where he was staring at the ceiling.

Nero swallowed a little, "I think I like Ari…"

"Well that's a good thing, it's pretty hard to be someone's friend if you don't like them," Weiss laughed a little.

Nero rolled over to glare at Weiss, pupils narrowing slightly, "I mean I _like_ like Ari."

Weiss turned his head, eyebrows up, "hmm… interesting, so what's the question?"

"How do I tell if she likes me back?" Nero asked sounding hopeful.

Weiss shrugged, "ah my wonderful little brother, women are a language men are not meant to understand."

"What does that mean?" Nero puzzled.

"It's something men aren't meant to get, simple as that, though when we get to Cosmo Canyon I'll help you out with telling if she likes you," Weiss grinned at his younger brother. "After all love's something no man is able to avoid forever."

Nero grinned at Weiss, "sweet thanks Weiss! Now let's get some sleep! Tomorrow's going to rock!" He rolled over and looked out the window listening to the snoring of his brother before he too drifted off to sleep.

**A/N **Yerba Mansa is a plant that grows near rivers and smells like garlic, it's a Native American remedy for stomachaches and fevers when ground up and made into a tea. Oh and check out my profile to see what song I was listening to when I write a chapter! BP if you caught the  
LotR reference!


	22. Amare Pueri ad Puellae

**A/N **I'm sorry about the lack of updating for a while, I had this chapter fully written up but my external hard drive got corrupt and I lost the first half of the chapter. I had intended to have some unexpected stuff happen but the rewriting was killing me. And if you see someone talking in parentheses it means they are using the language common to animals.

Amare Pueri ad Puellae – Love of a boy for a girl

Nero awoke the next morning waking up to the hot desert sun blazing through the window. He yawned as his shadow flicked around for a moment; his sleepy mind meant his control was a bit lax. He sat there a moment, red eyes disappearing occasionally behind his eyelids as he forced himself to consciousness. Shaking the remaining thoughts of falling back asleep out of his head he wandered into the bathroom and showered, brushed his teeth, finally wandering back into the cabin to sleep. He pulled on a black tee shirt and shorts better suited to the heat of a place that never saw winter. Blinking once again he watched Weiss roll over, a trickle of drool escaping the corner of his lips. Grinning deviously he leaped over and pounced his sleeping brother, the springs groaning loudly in protest to this movement, accompanied by a counterpoint of Weiss shouting in shock.

Nero shook his brother roughly, "Come on Weiss you gotta wake up! You promised you'd help me today!"

Weiss snorted a little, "I'll be out in five more minutes… go get some breakfast…" he muttered rolling over. He fell silent before he let out a long snore.

Nero stuck out his tongue climbing as noisily as was humanly possible off of the bed. He pulled on his boots leaving the cabin in search of breakfast and Ariella, but not until he had slammed the door of the cabin so hard the light in the hallway flickered for a moment. He stormed out of the room heading for the bright outside world, when he opened the door he smiled up at the topaz blue sky, "hello world! Today I tell Ari how I feel!" He jumped out of the door excited about the prospect of the future, darting around he spotted some flowers humbly growing near the airship. "These'll be perfect! She's gonna love 'em!" He shouted into the air as he picked them.

He first had to find Ariella though, he closed his eyes, a thin stream of dark energy raced around for a few minutes before spotting Ariella accompanied by what looked like a lion crossed with a wolf. He opened his eyes running to where they had perched on the rim of the canyon that faced south. He hunched up in the doorway watching Ariella's companion anxiously, that flaming tail, the claws and fangs all worried him. He swallowed the lump in his throat still watching them silently when, "Nero we would like it if you would not sneak around, if you wish to say something then come over here."

Nero nervously left his hiding spot approaching cautiously, "um… hi Ari…"

"Nero, Nanaki," Ariella gestured to her company.

Nanaki studied Nero for a moment bowed his head briefly and turned his attention to the sky, a hawk swooped down and landed on Ariella's leg. She stroked it with the back of her hand gently. Nero flushed realizing he was now being ignored, "um Ari… here!" He put the flowers out in front of them, offering them up to Ariella.

She twisted around for a moment sniffing them, she nodded up at Nero, "these are safe for you to eat. Never hurts to check thought." She smiled slightly up at him before returning her attention over the rim of the canyon.

Nero flushed scurrying off, Nanaki smiled slightly, "(he seems nice enough.)" He commented in the language common to animals.

Ariella and the hawk both let out a short laugh, "(true but he still has a long way to go. Someday we would like to bring our cub brother out here.)"

"(We would be honored to meet him,)" Nanaki smiled revealing his fangs.

She nodded smiling at the hawk as she took off, "(have a safe trip!)" Ariella called waving.

The hawk waved one foot, "(you too our Lady!)"

Ariella watched her continuing to wave before leaning heavily against Nanaki, "(we miss our family… we miss Angeal…)"

"(Being separated from those you care about must be difficult. This one has faith in you two, we believe you will return happily to us again.)" Nanaki put a consoling paw on her back licking her cheek lightly, "(so how was your clan when you left them?)"

"(Fine,)" Ariella smiled a little up at him.

Back in the underground tunnels that criss-crossed the canyon's interior, Nero ran blindly towards who knows where when something put a hand on his shoulder.

"We're here to help lost souls find their way," Zack declared.

"A soul adrift in the sea of love," Daniel added.

"In other words, yours Nero," Weiss finished.

Nero groaned, if this was anything like his childhood then this would be a long day. Weiss wrapped one arm around Nero's waist and picked him up in the style of a sack of potatoes. "Come on, we're going to get you on a date with the princess whether you like it or not."

Nero struggled, "hey let me go! Weiss! Put me down! Where are we going?!"

Zack grinned at him, "we're gonna get you on that date of course." A few minutes later they'd carried Nero back to their rooms in Cosmo Canyon where they would be staying the night before leaving to Nibelheim the next day. The SOLDIER trio set Nero down and Weiss stepped forward, "alright my pesky younger brother what have you tried so far?"

"Just the flowers," he glanced at the drooping flowers still clutched in his hand.

Daniel held out a box, "chocolate. Every girl in the world loves chocolate."

Nero accepted the box while Zack took his flowers and put them in some water, Nero meanwhile peaked under the lid at the box of chocolate. "You sure this will work?"

Daniel nodded, "works like a charm, the fastest way to a person's heart is through chocolate."

Nero left the room with the SOLDIERs waiting for him in the room; he headed back up to the rim of the canyon. Nanaki and Ariella had returned, resuming their silent observation of the sky. Nero hid in the doorway; Daniel gave him a little nudge, "go on tiger."

Nero swallowed and walked forward, "um Ari, I brought you something." He closed his eyes shoving his hands forward offering up the box, a blush shooting up his cheeks.

Ariella stood up and sniffed the box before recoiling, "that's dangerous! Do you have any idea how dangerous those things are?" She took the box and threw it on the ground; pulling off her sword she beat the box to a pulp. "Here get rid of them. You're lucky you didn't eat any of them; they poison your body and make you sick. Good thing you checked with us first, I'd hate to see you get sick Nero."

She turned around and sat down next to Nanaki again. Nero picked up the box and felt a tear trickle down his face. He sprinted down the hallways to the room where to Weiss and the others were and buried his face in his brother's chest. Weiss stroked Nero's head with one hand taking a relatively undamaged chocolate from the box and ate it. "Daniel you idiot, these are raspberry filled chocolates, lions are allergic to raspberries. No wonder she had that reaction."

Daniel huddled up in the corner in a gloomy state, Zack smiled at Nero, "not your fault, just because you offered her something dangerous. Now, if there's one thing no girl can resist it's a guy who sings or does poetry. You gotta show her your sentimental." He handed Nero a piece of paper, "try this, its worked like a charm for me."

Nero wiped his nose off and nodded, "alright…" he wandered out of the room and back to the canyon rim. "Alright Ari, I'm going to sing you a song!" He declared, pulling out the piece of paper, this whole time he was facing away from Ariella towards the rim of the canyon on the right hand side, "Love, love, love, love…"   "Who're you talking to Nero?" came a voice from behind him.

He leaped up in the air, several dark wisps circling him for a moment, "A-A-Ari! Um… I… I was practicing my singing. Wanna help me?" He stood up and showed her the paper.

She looked at the paper over his shoulder, "um… okay… but what does it say?"

"Okay… um well… never mind… gotta go, I hear Weiss calling me," he muttered flushing and running off.

Ariella looked at Nanaki for a moment, "(we find humans to be a very peculiar species.)"

"(Agreed whole heartedly,)" he bobbed his head in agreement.

The human in question had run back to the room with the SOLDIERs, as Nero recounted his tale Zack hunched up next to Daniel in the corner. Weiss sighed, "Hmm, I've got an idea. This evening spend some time with Ariella and take her on a nice date."

Nero looked up at his brother, "I'll do it for you big brother!" He hugged Weiss tightly; the older brother pulled out a small spray bottle and gave Nero a few shots of it. "My secret weapon attracts people like flies."

Nero grinned and ran outside for another try; maybe this would encourage Ariella to go on a date. He ran over to where she was lying on the ground next to Nanaki, "um Ari you wanna go out on a date with me?"

He got no response, as he drew closer he saw both Nanaki and Ariella had their hands and paws clamped over their noses. He sighed and disappeared back down the hallways, so far nothing he had tried worked, at this rate he was never going to get anywhere. At that moment he heard some coughing from farther down the hall, Dante and Sephiroth approached him with their noses plugged up, "Nero what are you wearing?" Dante demanded.

"Some stuff Weiss put on me," Nero replied.

Dante groaned, "oh hell no... I thought I took that stuff from him when he was under my command..." He shook his head, "General, what do you want to do?"

Sephiroth pondered for a moment, "Nero, change clothes and take a shower, then just go do what you need to do."

Nero sighed, "but General sir, I was trying to talk to Ariella and it... well it went badly, she either ignored me, stopped me cold or I panicked when trying to talk to her!"

Sephiroth looked over at Dante, the latter sighed, "like I said, take a shower, change clothes and talk to her. Did you try just talking to her?"

Nero shook his head, Dante's right ear twitched in frustration, "well there's your problem. Go do as I say."

The boy hastily scampered off to the room where Weiss and the others were. He ran over to his bag and grabbed a new set of clothes then ran in the bathroom and locked the door. He pulled off his smelly outfit and rinsed off all the dirt before leaping into the hot spring and settling in. The smell faded away and he forced himself out and pulled on his new clothing. He strode from the room looking over at the still depressed First Class grinning and he strutted all the way to the rim of the canyon just as the sun was setting.

Ariella and Nanaki had recovered from their shock of smelling Nero's cologne, they sat around the rim looking up at the night sky, "it's time." Ariella looked over her shoulder, "care to join us Nero?"

He blushed a little and nodded scampering over to them and settling in next to them and watching Ariella quietly. Both his companions stared up at the sky intently, he looked up curiously to see something streaking silently through the sky. He smiled; it was a meteor shower they had decided to watch. He glanced at Ariella and leaned his head onto her shoulder and smiled quietly, "I love you Ari..." he whispered.

Ariella smiled and didn't reply.


	23. Clamatus in Nocte

**A/N: **Surprise! Two chapters in one week! I'm going to be away from my computer most of next week so I won't get much writing done. I wanted to get as much up as I could before I left. So until then I shall press on! Oh and I updated the list of songs, and all of my disclaimers can be found on my profile. Oh and for clarification sake: if it's in italics then it's either a thought or dreams, if it's in italics and bold then it's Adarna or Chaos talking, if it's italics underlined then it's Jenova communicating telepathically, if it's in parentheses then it's someone speaking in another language.

Clamatus in Nocte – Call in the Night

The next morning found everyone standing around the main gate of Cosmo Canyon putting his or her equipment in the back of a large truck. Zack had unpacked Kupo from his gear and the moogle doll now resided safely in Ariella's iron grip. She stood off to one side chatting with Nanaki while everyone else packed up, "(You know these metal things seem so useless, they build them only to break them and then when they fix them they build them again.)"

"(Yes well humans can be useless when they aren't useful,)" Nanaki observed. "(The fact they must burn everything also boggles the mind.)"

"(True completely true. Their logic is to be illogical we suppose,)" Ariella laughed as the line of SOLDIERs loaded up the truck in the most inefficient way possible.

"Hey Ari we're ready when you are!" Nero waved over at her.

"(Well it would seem we're moving along with our journey, we will see you later we suppose,)" Ariella smiled at Nanaki.

He leaned his head up and she stooped over a little to touch noses, "(the Luna festival is coming soon, you should come visit during then. We believe Deneh should be back.)"

"(We think we would like that,)" she replied as she stood up, "(may the Hunter Luna be in your eyes.)"

"(And may the Dreamer Luna protect you,)" he replied before she waved at him jogging over to the truck and clambering into the back.

She piled in next to Nero and Dante, Dante watched her for a moment, "so what was that discussion all about?"

"Nothing in particular," Ariella shrugged as the truck's engine roared to life, it was a six-hour drive to Nibelheim, the earlier a start they got the better. She let her attention wander out the window, the bland desert sand started to make her sleepy. She yawned resting her cheek against her hand, elbow propped against the side of the truck.

"**_Closer now then you were before, come on, we're waiting for you_**," a voice suddenly called her out of her daydreaming.

"Huh? Nero did you say something?" She asked sitting up but he had already fallen asleep against Weiss's chest. She shook her head and returned her gaze out the window until she too fell to sleep's embrace.

"_I'm Vincent Valentine reporting for duty ma'am, I've been assigned to your protection."_

_The person across from me seemed startled by my announcement, when she'd recovered, "Lucrecia Crescent, pleased to meet you Mr. Valentine." She smiled quietly._

"_No really the pleasure is all mine," my voice cracked embarrassed, why was I embarrassed? I had not done anything worthy of it, had I? "I've been reading about you on my way here, I particularly liked the part about the possibility of a third entity representing life. You said that Chaos was the being of the Planet's birth, and Omega was death, therefore there must be one representing life."_

"_Oh," she blushed a little smiling. "I have reason to suspect that the Planet was prepared in the event of a crisis not only when it suspects it will end but in the event something were to happen during her life she would need some countermeasures."_

"_Oh wow," I replied sounding as though I was hanging off of every word. I had no idea half of what this conversation was about. What concern did it bear for me?_

"_**Who are you?**__" A sharp voice scolded._

_I winced as it hurt my mind, that was when she spoke up, "__**Chaos!**__"_

"_**Adarna!**__" The voice that had scolded me back shouted. My head was pounding as I woke up._

"A…dar…na?" Ariella whispered as she looked up, Dante glared at her. "What's going on?"

"Dragon in the road about twenty feet ahead of us," he replied.

She sprang up scrambling for the door, Nero blinked as he watched Ariella dart past him, "Ari we're supposed to stay in the truck!"

"Ariella's awake?!" Daniel shouted as he watched Ariella leaped past his post at the door of the truck.

She didn't heed his advice as she rounded the truck, Zack, Sephiroth, and Weiss stood swords drawn glaring at the dragon. Weiss became the first to notice Ariella, "go back in the truck Ari. You can't handle this."

"Ariella…" Sephiroth growled as he turned his head to see her better, "this isn't some rabbit. Get back in the truck this instant."

She ignored them sliding between Zack, who stood dumbfounded opening and closing his mouth several times. "Let us handle this," she demanded of the SOLDIERs.

Sephiroth's pupils contracted into vertical slits as he studied her, "if it attacks though then you're getting back in that truck."

"We understand," she replied stepping between Sephiroth and the dragon. "(Hail Lord of the Skyfire!)"

"(You speak our tongue?)" The dragon replied. "(Name thy clan!)"

"(Solhunters of the Water,)" she conveyed loudly.

"(A Solhunter, you seem small and weak for a Solhunter,)" the dragon replied. It stepped forward, neck stretched out sniffing her curiously.

Ariella blushed a little, "(we are not as weak as we seem.)"

The dragon bellowed out a laugh covering her in soot, "(Cub, everyone is weak in some way for their clan. Now tell us why these humans desire to stab this one.)"

She glanced back at the dumbfounded SOLDIERs, "(humans are foolish creatures, they do not mean to harm anyone intentionally. The Winds speak of clans losing their minds in these mountains, they merely assumed you to threaten them.)"

"(Tell them we meant no such insult, this is merely a hunting ground, we have no intention to fight.)" The dragon snorted glaring at the SOLDIERs. "(Why do they seek passage into the Skyfire lands?)"

She coughed a little as she became covered in soot again, "(they seek to reach the human lands at the foot of your clan lands. We of the Solhunter merely seek to answer that which has called us here. We know we are clans of opposite sides but we do not intend to hunt here. Merely our wish is to pass through and treat with the one who speaks in our slumber.)"

"(If you mean the Lord, he sleeps in the dark caverns, if you wish to pass you may, but do not expect such kindness from others. Our clan is slowly losing their minds; the Smoldering Tower in the high reaches of our lands bears a great evil. You should heed this wisdom and avoid it if you wish to live. Especially the one who is evil yet does not know it, he should avoid it at all costs or great sorrow will befall these lands and him.)" The dragon replied meeting Ariella's eyes, pale ivory fangs glinting in the sunlight sinisterly.

"(We understand, we would like to speak with you more if we get the chance,)" Ariella smiled as the dragon leaped into the air.

The dragon bellowed another laugh, "(we like you Solhunter, if the stars foretell it then we shall meet again.)" Came the reply as the dragon flew away.

Ariella waved for a moment before spinning around, "(conflict resolved.)"

At that moment Sephiroth's PHS rang, it sounded suspiciously fanfare-ish. He put it up to his ear; before slamming it shut replacing it in his pocket, "wrong number. I really need to get it unlisted."

Zack laughed and Weiss chuckled as Sephiroth walked back over to the truck climbing back inside. The other two followed him hastily, "_**We've been waiting**._"

Ariella blinked back some tears, the sorrow of that comment started to make her tear up, she wiped her face on the back of her sleeve. Shaking her head she ran back to the rear of the truck climbing inside reclaiming her seat between Dante and Nero. She leaned back against the window thinking again, "(Vin….cent… Valentine… Lucre…cia Crescent… who are you)?"

"Hey Ari? You okay?"

Nero's voice snapped Ariella out of her trance thinking, she made a half grunt half growl, "(what?)"

"Oh… um… you were muttering," Nero looked away awkwardly; he had no idea what she was saying. "And we're here," he gazed out the window of the sleepy little town of Nibelheim. The truck pulled to a stop in front of the town and everyone climbed out. Ariella immediately shied herself between Sephiroth and Zack; Nero on the other hand was running up to the big water tower, "wow this is cool!"

Ariella shied even further behind Sephiroth as some kids invited Nero out to play, she watched him accept and they ran off. Sephiroth sighed, "come on Ariella, let's go to the inn." His head had been aching for a while now and he wanted to sleep it off, however with Ariella around it seemed to be less, in fact ever since she'd walked over by him it had been non existent.

They walked over to the inn, Weiss waved at them, "I'm gonna go keep an eye on Nero sir!"

Sephiroth and Dante nodded as the rest of the group dispersed through the town to take care of what they needed to.

"Welcome," the innkeeper greeted the SOLDIERs. He was used to strange things happening so nothing much bothered him, his balding head reflected the slight light

"We had a reservation, Shin-Ra should have contacted you about this." Sephiroth replied casually.

"Ah yes, two doubles and two queens, we have your rooms all prepared," he replied not noticing Ariella trembling near Sephiroth's side.

"Would it be possible to get some extra blankets and pillows in my room, the night air always gives me the chills."

The innkeeper nodded, "I'll send some up right now."

Sephiroth nodded ushering Ariella up the stairs followed by Dante; they arrived at their rooms. Ariella swallowed hard, the room reminded her too much of Gillian's home back in Banora. She shivered again hiding herself in Sephiroth's leather coat. Sephiroth sighed putting a hand on her head, "I think we've had a rough day, what's say we get some dinner and go to bed?"

Ariella gave a slight nod from her place death gripping Sephiroth's coat. He picked her up setting her over on the couch, he sat down next to her on the floor with his back against the couch, "I suppose you'll want to hear a story before you take a nap."

She nodded a little as he reached into his bag handing her Kupo, she hugged it for a moment, "we want to hear more about your childhood. What was it like?"

Sephiroth thought for a moment, "you really wouldn't want to hear something so boring so how about I tell you the first time I met Angeal and Genesis?"

Her head sunk for a moment before she smiled a little, "that would be nice…"

Sephiroth leaned his head back gazing at the pale orange light from the street lamp on the ceiling, "let's see I was just a few years older then you are…

Hojo had just cleared me that I had enough of a stable mind to be around SOLDIERs and admitted me into the program. I was in one of the training halls doing some basic sword work, 'Hey look at that sword slinging old lady over there!' That was the first thing Genesis ever said about me, and it was annoying to say the least. I didn't like being insulted so we ended up in a fight with Angeal trying to pull us apart. I wondered after we'd broken up the fight how long they would stay around. The more we ended up together the more I began to appreciate them; they were the first friends I had ever made. Ari?"

He glanced behind him to see Ariella had curled up fast asleep, one hand holding Kupo, the other one grasped a few locks of Sephiroth's hair. He gently untwined them from her fingers as he stood up, it was still early and he felt his headache slowly coming back while he walked to the door.

_My son, it is time to cleanse this world, _a voice in the back of his head whispered.

"Who are you?" He muttered as he slid one hand through his hair rubbing at his forehead.

_I am your Mother, I am Jenova,_ she whispered gently to him. _You are my son; you are the rightful heir to this world. The time has come to take your rightful place as a god my son._

Sephiroth closed his eyes, the pain started to numb his senses, he leaned against the wall for a moment. His mother? Mother? Jenova? "As you wish, Mother." His eyes opened, their jade green glowing eerily from the mako coursing through his body.

Shortly after Sephiroth's departure Ariella woke up panting, "(who was that?)" She stood up looking out the window; a large mansion loomed in the far reaches of the city. "(In there? Is that where you are?)" Lifting the window up she leaped out landing in the azaleas in the garden before sprinting towards the mansion. Someone or something was calling, and she wanted to find out what.


	24. Urbs Mortui

**A/N: **Well since I will be out of town next week I see no reason not to spoil you people with a surplus of reading before I do.

Urbs Mortui – City of the Dead

Ariella gazed through the large rusted gates of the mansion; a large deadbolt stood chaining them together. Above it hung a 'Do Not Enter Property of Shin-Ra' sign. She ignored the sign squeezing herself through the bars of the gate with ease. Trotting up the path she pushed open the doors stepping inside the old mansion, "(are you in here?)" She continued to use the language native to animals, as whatever she kept hearing seemed to respond to it. She lay down in the middle of the floor listening.

"_**To go up is to come down and to go down is to come up**_," the voice she'd been hearing riddled.

Ariella picked her head up seeing an old ramp with some stairs leading up to the second floor, she scampered up them, her feet and hands leaving a trail in the lairs of built up dust. She took a left before stopping in the hall, this didn't feel right to her at all. She simply changed direction heading in the other direction until she wandered into what seemed to have once been a library. In one corner stood an imposing brick wall, unfazed she shoved it out of the way; it protested with a groan but relinquished allowing her to proceed. Heading down the long wooden ramp she stopped as her instincts told her to head back. This cave was not a friendly place at all.

"_**Scared already we thought you were braver than that**_," the voice jested.

She swallowed and hunched up a little carefully creeping through the caverns, eventually she arrived at a set of doors, two in front of her in a double door set and the other two on either side. She sniffed the air nervously, now she could smell someone, she turned to the one on the left forcing the locked door open. Skeletons littered the sides of the room but the only attraction to her was the coffin in the center of a slightly raised dais. With extreme caution she picked her way over to the coffin, she gazed at it for a minute reading an inscription on the lid.

'Battle not with monsters

Lest ye become a monster

And if you gaze into the abyss

The abyss gazes into you

I am the abyss

You will be lost in the dark

You will be lost inside me'

She stared at it for a moment, "(ah this one understands, and is grateful you can read this language.)" She pushed on the lid for a moment uncovering its occupant. A man who appeared to be no older than Angeal and Sephiroth slept quietly inside. His unruly raven black hair, held back by a red bandana, framed his face, his skin seemed unhealthily pale, as though the sun's kiss had never graced it. His body lay under an elegant cardinal red cloak concealed completely as though it were a blanket. His arms defied this rule, his left atop his right, both holding a white rose to his chest. His left hand through had five long metallic claws, the back of his hand was concealed by a gold plate, the rest of his arm up until his elbow sat encased in the same gold metal. His eyes opened, two rubies glowing faintly from the mako in his system fluttered for a moment sweeping the room finally resting on Ariella.

Ariella smiled slightly, at least she had not been led astray, "hello… again."

"Who are you?" he muttered faintly, his voice hoarse from disuse.

"Ariella Hewley," she replied, "you called us here, Vincent Valentine."

His eyes closed slowly for a moment, he grunted as he sat upright propping himself with his left arm, his thin chest heaving with the effort, the neck of the cloak fell around his navel revealing his body networked by scars, "then you… I take it… are the one I saw… in my dreams." He stopped talking for a moment as his hands closed over the rose clutched in his human looking one. "You must leave… this is no place for a child… leave me to my penance… leave an old monster to rest…"

She watched him closely, "what about Chaos and Adarna?"

His eyes widened a little, "how do you know that?"

"We, well I am… er… we are like you Chaos and Vincent." She commented wondering if she put it in a way he could understand.

He closed his eyes, a few moments later he opened them, "Chaos said he called you… Apparently he sensed Adarna and summoned you here… Why he did so… either way you should leave… I am a monster…"

She tilted her head to the side, "why? 'One does not summon a stranger without good reason'" She recalled something Angeal had once said, "Chaos and Adarna must have a good reason for this."

Vincent remained silent at this remark; he gazed at the flower in his hand, "leave…"

She shook her head, "why? We would only come back."

His eyes gained some vibrancy that could only be compared to a SOLDIER going green, "because… I…" he closed his eyes again. "…Lucrecia…"

"Lucrecia Crescent?" Ariella interjected.

He watched her for a moment, "…how do you know of Lucrecia? Is she okay? Is she alive?"

She watched him sadly before shaking her head; "we do not know… we only saw her in your dreams…"

He closed his eyes again lying back down, "leave now Ariella Hewley… let me repent for my sin in peace…" He reached over for the lid attempting to pull it back over, but Ariella stopped him.

"What about Lucrecia Crescent? Would she want you to stay in there?" Ariella demanded.

Vincent let go of the lid rolling over on his side facing away from Ariella. "Why do you insist on staying? … I am of no importance to the world… I am a monster…"

At that Ariella climbed into the coffin behind Vincent, pounced on him biting his ear, he winced slightly, "quit saying you're a monster. Our father said the exact same thing, neither Adarna nor I think you are."

"Let go of my ear," he muttered.

"Not until you get out of here and talk to her, our father said if you do something you should apologize to the one you hurt and work harder to make it better," she replied with his ear still in her mouth. She let go for a moment sniffling for a moment, "…I should be in there… not you… I'm the real monster…"

Vincent heaved a sigh, "Ariella… If I leave here then will you tell me what's smelling like fire?"

Ariella's head shot up as she sniffed the air, it was faint in here but she could definitely smell fire. She stood up and climbed out of the coffin, "come with us, in there you will never know if you're forgiven, out there you have a chance."

Vincent stared at her for a moment shaking his head, "no…."

Ariella shook her head and ran out of the room, up the ramp, out of the upper rooms to the second floor balcony, "hello Ariella, long time no see, you're looking well." A voice that sent shivers down Ariella's spine greeted.

Nate Jackson, the former SOLDIER Second Class, stood there smirking up at her, outside Ariella could see the pale orange sky that indicated fire. "What's going on?"

"Well let's see, the General joined Lord Rhapsodos and Lord Hewley in their effort to destroy the world, but you shouldn't trouble yourself with that, after all your going to die here. So just sit back relax and make your peace with this life." He laughed. "My orders were to bring you with me alive, but I don't think you deserve the honor. I'll take your place and present them with your head as a trophy."

Ariella closed her eyes; _**Let me handle him**_, a voice in her mind spoke up.

_As you wish_, Ariella replied.

As she opened her eyes her irises changed slowly from their normal colors to gold in the green one and silver in the blue one. She reached up behind her to grasp the sword she brought with her; she drew it off of her back seeing Nate with a claymore. Her sword protested as it was removed from the sheath, bits of rust flaking off of the blade as she pointed it at Nate. He pointed over at some boulders, swinging his arm he sent them flying at Ariella, she leaped off of the balcony rolling as they collided with the wall. He smirked and charged her. She swung for Nate's head, he blocked it, and a crack appeared in her sword.

"It seems you picked a bad sword kiddo," Nate remarked stepping forward, his blade cutting a little into her own, as the crack in her sword increased in size.

She took a step forward but the stress on the blade was too great and the upper half of the sword broke off, Nate's sword slid into her right eye as he slashed through destroying the sensitive tissues. She dropped her broken sword clutching her bleeding eye letting out a howl of pain.

Nate stepped over her and prepared to stab her one last time, as he started to bring his sword down she grabbed the broken sword driving it into Nate's stomach. He staggered back, rust made a wound hurt in a way no other substance save salt could. "Bitch, I won't lose to you. I'm gonna destroy you and this world." He lifted up one hand picking Adarna up in the air slamming her into the wall; he waved his arm again sending her into the other wall. He brought her back over to him before grabbing her throat he pinned her up to the wall, "when I bring your head back to Lord Rhapsodos he'll reward me and then I can finally have the glory you stole from me!"

"Why Nate?" Was about all Adarna could manage with her windpipe being so constricted by Nate's hand.

He smirked as his fist clenched tighter, "why not? Killing you means I'm one step closer to taking my life into my own hands. I mean think about it, I'm far more deserving of your prestige then you are. I'm the son of the mayor of Kalm; you're just some useless punk orphan with no one. I have everything you don't and I always will, you're better off dead than a drain on resources. Now I'm gonna do you a favor and put you out of your pitiful existence. Maybe you'll get luckier in the next life." And with that Nate telekinetically pinned Ariella to the wall stabbing straight through her shoulder with one stroke, he pulled the sword out and stabbed clean through the breast bone and spinal column pinning her to the wall. Nate barked out a laugh as he stomped some of the broken sword pieces to dust, "Rest in peace you little worm." He watched her eyes fade back to green and blue. Ariella's head went limp as her eyes closed, slowly he could hear her heart speeding up, and then slowing down until it finally came to a stop. He let out a longer cackle as he shot the bird at her corpse, turned and strolled away leisurely pulling the broken sword handle out of his stomach.


	25. Urbs Mortui: Secundus Pars

**A/N: **Good news, we have a scene change, this really should be Urbs Mortui part B since it overlaps with everything. It picks up when Sephiroth left the inn and follows what everyone else was up to during Ariella meeting Vincent and Nate.

Urbs Mortui: Secundus Pars – City of the Dead: Second Part

Back in the city not all was well, Sephiroth had gone to the center of town with his sword, he gazed up at the clock tower. "Mother, I will be there for you soon." He summoned a fireball and incinerated the clock tower. Behind him he could hear footsteps, it was a human worm. He spun around trying to cut down the scum, however the one who stopped the attack seemed to be different from those he hated. The spiky white hair and startlingly blue eyes stood out as green infected them.

Weiss stood there firmly blocking Sephiroth's attack, "General what the hell's gotten into you?!"

"Mother says I should get rid of you, traitor," he replied as he sent Weiss flying. Weiss back flipped planting his feet on a wall, followed by launching himself at Sephiroth. He slashed at Sephiroth's head but was blocked; he swung his leg around kicking Sephiroth in the head. The SOLDIER General staggered for a moment, he smirked grabbing Weiss with one hand around his throat. Weiss choked as he felt the air unable to reach his lungs, however that was remedied when Sephiroth let him go, someone else had shown up.

"What the hell's wrong with you Seph?!" Zack shouted as Weiss stood up coughing a little.

"Another traitor," Sephiroth chuckled a little, "you wouldn't have to die if you would join Mother and I. Together we will take this planet as a vessel through the cosmos."

Weiss punched at Sephiroth, he moved out of the way of the attack with the grace of a cat. Bringing his elbow up he drove it calmly into Weiss's ribs. Weiss flew back again as he felt several ribs crack, he coughed again. Sephiroth ignored him grabbing Zack over the face, lifted him into the air tossing him to join Weiss. He summoned a fireball shooting it off at the local school building.

Zack wiped some blood off of his face, Weiss stood up clutching his side with his hand. "He's lost it," Zack muttered.

"No… something his blocking his thought process," Weiss muttered. "See how he keeps looking up at the mountain… whatever's blocking him from thinking must be up there."

Zack watched Sephiroth gazing up at the mountain longingly, "you're right."

Someone reached up behind them pulling them into an alleyway; they discovered Dante standing there, Nero and Daniel next to him. "Have you two seen the kid?"

Both shook their heads, Dante growled slightly, "well as Sephiroth is temporarily indisposed that leaves me in charge. You two," he glared at Zack and Weiss, "come with me, we're getting Sephiroth out of this town. Nero, Daniel, locate the kid then start getting those fires out and see the safe evacuation of the city."

Nero nodded and took off heading for the inn, followed closely by Daniel, Zack and Weiss stood up as Dante released them. "Now get going, I'll be waiting for you at the reactor, lead him up there." With that he took off running leaving the two First Class SOLDIERs wondering about how to distract Sephiroth from his homicidal rampage.

Zack sighed watching Sephiroth again, "wonderful…"

Weiss shook his head, "we need to stay focused, listen, we'll take turns launching spells at him from a distance, he should take the bait and we can escape up the mountain to the reactor."

"What materia do we have?" Zack asked pulling out some Ice and a Barrier materia.

Weiss pulled out a Cure combined with an All and a Lightning, "Cure3 All," he muttered alleviating all of their injuries before putting those two away. "Zack you go first since you're faster then me, let him chase you for a couple of minutes, when you take an unexpected turn I'll catch his attention.

"That should work, see ya in a few," Zack grinned taking off leaving Weiss behind. He ran through the street spotting Sephiroth, who'd vanished since they'd stopped watching him. He pulled out his Ice materia, "Ice2!" The large chunk of ice nearly hit Sephiroth in the head as he stepped back.

Sephiroth spotted Zack summoning a fireball shooting it at him, Zack hastily cast Barrier on himself, "come on Seph take the bait…"

Sephiroth snorted for a moment, he charged Zack head on, Zack grinned a moment taking off at a sprint out of the town, he ran past the mansion, Sephiroth seemed to be getting distracted by the large abandoned structure. Fortunately at that moment a lighting bolt attracted Sephiroth's attention, as Weiss appeared to give Zack a break. Zack disappeared behind a tree for a moment as Weiss led Sephiroth further up the mountain, Zack caught his breath, and he swore he heard a howl of pain coming from the mansion. He dismissed it before giving chase after them, and taking every shortcut he could. He found a decent boulder waiting, as soon as he saw Weiss running dodging a fireball he leaped out launching another Ice spell at Sephiroth. Both Weiss and Zack ran side by side the last few hundred yards up the mountain watching the reactor looming in the distance.

Weiss took a left, Zack hung a right both watched Sephiroth slow to a walk as he approached the reactor, "Mother, those worms got away but I'm here. I'm here for you Mother." He started to walk towards the reactor when an explosion from one of the walls caught his interest.

Dante flew through the opening, blood dripping from his head, in the reactor standing side by side were Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. "Don't play coy Restrictor, where's Sephiroth?"

"I don't know," Dante muttered standing up, leaning his weight on one gunblade. His eyes fell on Sephiroth as the mad General advanced on him, "shit." He leaped back Sephiroth swung for him. He turned his gunblades at Sephiroth shooting at him, the silver haired man blocked leaping into the air to engage with Dante.

Genesis's eyebrows went up, "well it would seem Sephiroth did decide to show up to our party. I wonder if Nate's completed his assignment yet?"

Angeal hung his head for a moment; if they were here then Ariella was left back at Shin-Ra. He shook his head glaring at Genesis sidelong, "what assignment was that?"

Genesis watched him, "I told him to bring Ariella back here, and she did come with them after all."

Angeal's eyes closed, then Ariella would be as good as dead. The modifications Nate had undergone in the last few days would make him invincible to a twelve year old. Besides he knew Nate would have no intention of following anyone's orders when it came to Ariella. Glancing at Genesis he pondered quietly if the renegade had considered his henchman's intense dislike of their daughter. He suppressed a sob, quietly, first his father, then his mother, now his daughter and best friend. He had nothing left, "don't give up just yet Dad!"

He opened his eyes a little seeing what looked like a ghostly form of a young girl with black hair, red streaked down the middle, two different colored eyes gazing at him from between an oversized turtle neck and a long fringe of bangs. He swallowed, "Ari…"

"You always said never give up, we won't give up on you if you don't give up on us." The ghostly form of Ariella grinned at him.

"I would never give up on you," he muttered.

"Then be the hero we know you are," she demanded before vanishing.

"Ariella!" He shouted closing his eyes again. When he opened them, they greened over; Nate would probably take the opportunity to kill Ariella, he couldn't let Genesis's laps in judgment go unpunished, "you bastard!" He spun around as he swung the Buster Sword at Genesis.

Genesis blocked with his rapier, "Angeal what's the meaning of this?"

"You'd put your own daughter in harms way for the sake of this plan of yours?! You son of a bitch! You swore on pain of death to keep her alive," Angeal roared as he shoved Genesis outside.

Genesis summoned a fireball shooting it off at Angeal; he dodged it flying at Genesis head on for another attack. He swung but found his target to be Sephiroth, who blocked and punched him in the gut sending him flying back into Dante. Dante kicked Angeal in the back, "that one was for the pain you caused that little girl."

Angeal fell down for a moment staggering to his feet, out of the corner of his eye he could see Sephiroth attacking Genesis in frenzy. "Dante… let's save this for later. Right now we need to return Seph to his senses..." He knew Sephiroth's typical fighting behavior and what he was displaying right now certainly wasn't his typical fighting behavior. For one thing Sephiroth would never be so easily distracted by multiple opponents in one area, he would always keep after one if the others showed no interest in fighting. Something was very wrong with Sephiroth right now, and Angeal intended to stop it.

Dante frowned, "after that you and I will settle this, no interruptions whatsoever."

Angeal nodded, "deal, now how do we take him down?"

"I'd say a sharp blow to the head would do it but knowing the General that wouldn't work," Dante shook his head. 

"Agreed, we both charge him head on, if you see an opening to knock him out then don't hesitate to take it," Angeal decided.

Dante laughed for a moment, "I always knew I liked you as a commander."

"Compliment is appreciated, now," he pointed the sword up at the sky pressing his forehead to the flat of the blade. "Ariella, I won't give up on you so please lend me your strength." He muttered kissing the sword before dropping it away from his forehead and charging at the dueling Sephiroth and Genesis. He spun around side slashing at both of them, they leaped back as both charged at him. Dante intervened shooting at the attackers, after which he charged forward leaping into the air continuing to shoot.

"This party's getting crazy!" Dante declare as he flipped in the air swinging both gunblades down breaking up the clash, he spun around slashing at the coat clad SOLDIERs. Angeal side stepped them attacking Sephiroth with an upwards slash, he caught the Masamune forcing Sephiroth into the air, Angeal leaped after him. He raised the Buster Sword up into a stab, "Climhazzard!"

Sephiroth rolled in midair avoiding the stab countering with a thrust through Angeal's left arm between his radius and ulna. He slashed sideways severing tendons, muscles ligaments and bone, he thrust again, Angeal dodged this time landing on a pipe jutting out of the reactor. He stuck the Buster Sword into the pipe clutching his left arm, his hand wasn't working, and fortunate for him the sword had missed his major arteries and veins by millimeters. "You're still in there aren't you Sephiroth… you must have no matter how unconsciously been holding yourself back… You're still fighting back." He picked up the Buster Sword smiling again rejoining the fray, all four of the combatants met in a class of steel and Orichalcum.

Out of nowhere a long black spiked chain wrapped around all five weapons, along with Genesis and Angeal's hands, the end of the chains was a lone black phoenix feather. A second chain appeared wrapping completely around the crazed Sephiroth.

"_**HOLD EVERYTHING!**_"


	26. Vita et Morte

Vita et Morte – Life and Death

While Sephiroth was chasing after Zack and Weiss, inside of the mansion Ariella choked,_(it hurts… why does it hurt?) _She tilted her head back staring up at the sky, "(A…Ang…Angeal…)" A lone white feather drifted out of the sky; she smiled slightly, "(A…Angeal... this one's sorry… it doesn't look like we'll get to see you Dad.)"

"Ari…" came a ghostly voice, "you can't give up just yet, you have to fight on. I'm counting on you. After all you're my pride, and you have your pride as a lion warrior am I right?"

"I… can't… do this… I'm not a full warrior… when you came for me I wasn't a full warrior… I never fulfilled the ceremony of the warrior…" She muttered back.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter if you're a warrior or not, what matters is your pride and your dreams, if you have those then you can win," he replied.

"I can't do this alone..." she sighed feeling her body surrounded by warmth.

"_**Yeah you can't but we can, just leave this to me kid**_" Came a mirthful reply, "_**After all a phoenix will always rise from the ashes no matter how many times it dies. We're of the same blood as the immortal bird, now pull that toothpick out of our chest and let's get ready to kick his ass**_"

Ariella's hand rose up and clenched the sword so hard it snapped, she freed herself from the wall watching Nate intently from behind, her wounds releasing a fresh wave of blood, as her hair started to get redder all the way around. She watched him, her right eye regrowing back into place, pupil narrowing on contact with Nate's face. Three long feathers started to protrude from the back of her head eventually forming into elliptically shaped trains of feathers each one possessing an eye spot in it. Ariella's body glowed fiery reddish gold, wounds healing, as a fourth feathery tail emerged to join the first three. Two pitch black angel wings protruded from her back.

Nate stopped cold, the temperature had shot up by twenty degrees, he whirled around to see Ariella looking very much alive smirking at him, hair a mix of reds and golds. "Impossible…. Who are you! What are you!"

"**_Among humans there is a legend that the phoenix rises from the ashes no matter how many times it is slain, well they were right. I am Adarna, nice to meet you, time to beat you,_**" she smirked as thin tendrils of flames wrapped around her forearms.

Nate spat on the ground, "fuck you, I don't care about stories, I knew I should have stabbed you through the heart."

Adarna laughed running a hand through her iridescent hair, "_**feh, I've been watching you for a long time Nate Jackson, and now you're gonna pay for everything you've done to Ariella.**_" She disappeared from Nate's field of vision for a moment; she reappeared behind him holding both of his arms behind his body with her foot slamming his head into the ground. "_**This was for the first time you ever touched her.**_" Two long black spiked chains emerged from the flames wrapped around her arms, she kicked Nate's head pulling up on his arms dislocating them.

He growled lifting her up into the air telekinetically. He leaped up into the air before he flew forward, blood spraying over Adarna's face, his psychic hold broke, she fell to the ground seeing the prone form of Nate lying there. She relinquished her possession of Ariella's body, all of the signs she had been there disappearing, black hair replaced most of Ariella's and she had lost the feathered tails along with her wings. She gazed up at the balcony of the second floor seeing someone in red and black standing there, smoke drifting out of the barrel of a gun. Vincent Valentine brought the gun to his lips blowing away the residual smoke placing it in the holster on his leg.

He leaped off of the balcony landing on the floor in front of her, "my apologies for being late, I could not find suitable clothing."

She tilted her head to the side, "what were you wearing before?"

A faint blush tinted his cheeks, "we should go."

She nodded and walked over to the door holding it open for Vincent, he stepped through waiting for Ariella for a moment. "We should hurry…" He muttered.

"The reactor! We sense Angeal up there!" Ariella shouted suddenly.

Vincent spun around, "we won't make in time if we walk, Chaos can you help?"

A moment later he vanished in a shroud of darkness revealing the demonic looking Chaos standing there. Fangs poking out from behind tan lips, golden eyes studying Ariella. A crown of red spikes jutted from his forehead, and his black hair had also spiked back. His torso appeared to be a face of some beast, his chest made up the eyes, one red, the other glowing blue from the large piece of materia in it. Three long grey triangles formed the teeth, they made an even harsher contrast due to his lower torso being black. Both of his calves were covered in a mess of spikes, stopping at the four pointed star knee guards. His boots had a wicked recurved edge on the tips, matching his sizable claws on both hands. His red wings lay folded behind him as he stepped forward a little, kneeling down placing both clawed hands on her shoulders. "_**You're Adarna's host, I want to talk to her face to face.**_"

Ariella stared awkwardly at the ground closing her eyes, her red hair returned along with the feather tails, chains, and wings. Adarna gazed up at Chaos for a long moment, she flung herself onto him sobbing, "_**I missed you… I thought you died…**_" She leaned forward kissing his cheek.

"_**Shh… we'll have time to make up for this later, right now I sense great evil in the mountains,**_" Chaos whispered into her ear gently running his long fingers through her hair, he really did wish they could continue but they had something important to deal with first.

She wiped her nose off on a part of her arm that wasn't covered by chains, "_**yeah… I think it's the Calamity.**_"

Both spread their wings flying off into the night sky and the imposing mountain range. They circled the reactor as they watched the fighting, in the back of Adarna's mind she could hear Ariella shouting at the top of her lungs for Adarna to stop the fight. She nodded at Chaos before sending one of the chains down wrapping around the combatants' weapons, "_**HOLD EVERYTHING!**_"

Sephiroth glared up at her, Genesis had a mildly amused expression on, Angeal's mixture of shock and relief showed through, and Dante still had his smirk on. Adarna nose-dived keeping the group secure sending her other chain to wrap around Sephiroth securely so he didn't try anything, she pulled the chains securely. She landed on the flat of the Buster Sword, "_**Angeal, glad to see you're alive and in one piece, you're in a shit load of trouble young man. Genesis, nice to finally meet you. Dante, been a while since we met, and it would seem the General needs to get his head on straight. Weiss, Zack, you two doing okay?**_" The silence was resounding, she laughed retracting the chain binding Dante in but kept it wrapped around Genesis and Angeal. "_**Neither of you are going anywhere, I have something to take care of in there first.**_"

She walked up the stairs, the chains extending as she walked away, leaving everyone confused and silent. Angeal stared at his bound hands then back at the wings sprouting from his back. He knew this would never work, it was all over now, and they would be taken back to Shin-Ra and executed for high treason. He flexed his wing for a moment, where was Ariella? He had no idea if she was alive or dead or if she was even along on this trip. "I'm sorry Ariella…" he muttered. A moment later he felt someone kick him in the shins hard, he yelped, "OW!"

Sephiroth stood there, face once again looking like that of a sane man, well as much as Sephiroth's face could look sane. His eyes had lost their intense mako glow of a few minutes ago but a glower of fury had replaced that. "You are the biggest idiot I have ever met in my entire life!"

Angeal winced, "General let me explain."

"I already told you, you can save your explanation for the one who needs to hear it, namely Ariella," Sephiroth replied, "you and Genesis have always been closer to each other then I could hope to be to you two. You never let me in on anything… I suppose I'm used to living in the dark. But that gives you no right to do that to Ariella."

Angeal winced, he remembered when he broke into the Shin-Ra building with Genesis and she just stood there silently sobbing her eyes out. He bit his lower lip gazing at the ground. He felt the chains around his wrists slackening; he realized that even though each link had a pair of wicked three inch long spikes protruding from it none of them had ever pierced his skin. He stuck the Buster Sword into the ground, as he extracted his hands nicking himself on the spines. The sound of footsteps caught everyone's attention as Chaos accompanied down the stairs of the reactor by Adarna, both licking the blood of each other's talons.

The SOLDIERs hastily readied for combat Adarna just smirked at them, "_**You can chill out, we're on your side, name's Adarna. I'm Ariella's other half.**_" She waved at them a little jostling the chain.

Angeal blinked, that meant that his daughter had just let some stranger lick some blood, he had no idea whose, off of her fingers. "You're in trouble… and you, young man," he turned his glare to Chaos. As a parent he had a right to know who his daughter's other personality was hanging around with.

"_**Time out, the name is Chaos, Adarna and I aren't doing anything so strange, what would you do if you hadn't seen the love of your life in two millennia? And besides you're hardly in a position to make threats about us being in trouble, considering you're in trouble. Besides you should be thanking us for saving you,**_" Chaos commented as Adarna glared at Angeal for a moment, she swung one arm completely releasing Sephiroth unharmed before launching at Angeal punching him in the cheek sending him flying.

Zack ran forward catching him, Angeal stood up wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, he stood up, the minute he did though Adarna tackled him jabbing him again. "_**YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ARIELLA! I'D KILL YOU RIGHT NOW IF ARIELLA WASN'T CRYING RIGHT NOW!**_"

Angeal studied her for a moment, he didn't doubt she would kill him, she sat back gazing up at the sky, "could you let me talk to Ariella?" He requested softly.

Adarna nodded, "_**You make her cry I kick your ass,**_" she closed her eyes, a moment later the additional features had vanished, thus releasing Genesis, but Ariella sat on Angeal's stomach watching him silently for a moment.

"A…Angeal…" She muttered quietly before hugging him tightly. He put his hand behind her head stroking her hair gently.

"Shh. it's okay…" he muttered feeling her start sobbing.

"I missed you!" She sobbed clinging to him tightly.

He sighed glancing up at Sephiroth before watching Ariella wrapping his wings around her protectively, "I'm sorry… I don't know what I was thinking…"

She sniffled for a moment, "was it something we did? Did I do something wrong?"

"No! No! Gaia no Ari, I love you, I was just a little confused," he hugged her tightly. "You're my daughter I could never be mad at you."

She buried her face in his chest; he held her tightly still protecting her with his wings. Genesis turned walking away, however a gunblade pointing at his head made him stop, "You're not going anywhere," Dante muttered.

"Well I will say this much, 'like father like daughter'." He muttered smirking.

Chaos rolled his eyes, "_**Urg… Vincent get me out of…**_" he trailed off before flying into the air, something was heading for the city from the direction of the mansion through the forest. "_**Oy Adarna's host, Ariella or whatever your name was, we've got trouble heading for the city. Some sort of big, unnatural beastie is fixing to attack.**_"

Ariella stood up along with Angeal, "General!"

"Our duty is to stop monster attacks," Sephiroth nodded, he beckoned over Weiss and Zack, both of whom had been quietly confused by this whole mess. "We're going to go on ahead, Angeal you're mission is to get Ariella to safety, Weiss, you'll aid Dante in guarding Genesis."

Ariella however had her own ideas, having left the group and switching places with Adarna, she took off into the air joining Chaos, "_**So slow I swear,**_" she shook her head grabbing the chain wrapped around her left arm pulling a small segment taught. "_**Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth you're coming with us.**_"

"What who gave you the right to order us around?" Sephiroth shouted up at them.

Chaos sighed, "_**Well we were trying to be nice but I guess that would just waste everyone's time.**_" With that said the pair swooped down, Adarna grabbing both Angeal and Genesis, Chaos picked up Sephiroth, "_**you two porcupines and gun boy can catch up with us later.**_"

Zack and Weiss took one look at the other, it took them a minute to figure out they had just been insulted. Zack clenched his fist, "that jerk who does he think he is!"

"I believe that is Chaos, I remember reading something about Chaos, Adarna and Omega a while back during my stay in Deepground," Weiss replied.

"Soul wrought of

Terra Corrupt

Quelling impurity

Purging the stream

Behold mighty Chaos

Omega's squire to

The lofty heavens

Born of the ashes

Raised in the fire

Crossing the border of

Life and Death

Behold fair Adarna

Omega's Fire

Chaos's Desire

Born of Life

Guardian of Death

When Adarna cries

Summoning Chaos

Behold benevolent Omega

Savior of the Planet

When Adarna's fire dies"

Zack watched him shocked, "how is it you know everything?"

"I'm not smart," Weiss replied a little embarrassed, "back in Deepground I was considered a child prodigy and was taught everything from martial arts to Planet History."

"Like I said how the hell is it you're so damn smart… I barely passed the entrance exams into the Cadets," Zack sighed.

Weiss wrapped an arm around him, "hey no worries, cheer up man. After all everyone has something they're good at."

Zack nodded, "yeah I guess you're right, come on, I'll race you back down the mountain!"

Weiss smirked and they took off. Dante, who had been hanging back looked up at the reactor, something wasn't sitting right with him. He ascended up the stairs, heading along the pipe work into the main part, carefully pushing open the back door he entered into a room full of pods, all of which had been opened, blood littering the floors. A large opening up at the top of the room caught his attention. He wandered up the stairs through to the open room, he saw a large metallic figure, feminine in shape thrown to the floor, behind it, about ten feet back he saw a broken tank, blood everywhere, he entered and crossed the narrow pipes. He headed for the tank and rubbed some of the blood between his fingers, he knew what it was and what it belonged to, "no way… did they… eat Jenova?"

**A/N:** Well we're nearing the end of the story, we just have some unfinished business to wrap up but it will have to wait until after I have trained as a monk for a week.


	27. Pugna Resolutus

**A/N** This chapter took a lot of editing, and I might put in an insert story between both this and the next chapter or between the next two.

Pugna Resolutus – Conflict Resolved

Across the valley Adarna and Chaos continued flying over to where the large grey snake like monster meandered through the forest. Down below they could see Nero, with Kupo the moogle doll tucked into his belt shooting up at the head of the beast. On one of the beast's six sets of legs Daniel had his claymore embedded in the appendage. "_**Okay you five keep him busy, draw him towards that clearing over there,**_" Chaos called out pointing at a small break in the trees.

"When did I die and name you leader?!" Sephiroth shouted.

"_**Good luck and if you die I'll bring you back and kill you!**_" Adarna called as the pair flung the SOLDIERs onto the back of the large dragon.

The SOLDIERs nearly fell off as the large beast undulated, "AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"_**Shit, is that who I think it is?**_"Adarna's blood red eyebrows rose up in surprise.

"_**Who?**_" Chaos replied watching the large sluggish dragon plodding along with the SOLDIERs on it's back.

She grit her teeth, claw tipped hands clenched into fists, "_**That damn bastard Nate Jackson, he's had it in for my host since day one. Neither one of us has trusted him from the get go. But I'll be honest, I think this form is much more fitting than his old one.**_"

He put a hand on her shoulder, "_**I know you're upset but be patient, if you rush in there recklessly then you'll only end up getting hurt.**_"

She growled gnashing her teeth, "_**then how do you propose we kill him?**_"

"_**I have a few ideas,**_" Chaos smirked summoning his large gun known as Death Penalty to his hand watching the SOLDIERs up on Nate's back.

Angeal stabbed the large beast in the back as the head reared back snapping at him. On its head he could see that it possessed a second face that looked exactly like Nate's. The large grayish back bucked into the air as Angeal stabbed it. The long draconic head snapped at Genesis who flapped out of the way landing somewhere on the large, strange beast's shoulder.

"Ari be careful!" Angeal muttered thinking about them.

Sephiroth shook his head, "Angeal we need to keep Nero and Daniel out of this, Genesis and I can take distraction, and get those two to safety."

Angeal nodded unfurling his wings and diving off, he scooped up Daniel from the leg of the suspiciously Nate faced monster. "Well Daniel I take it this is what you were expecting from First Class?"

Daniel, still recovering from the shock of fighting that thing alone, "yes sir…"

"Ah relax, you've done good so far," Angeal replied brightly setting Daniel down by a large tree, "just watch SOLDIER." With that he flew back over to retrieve Nero.

Nero stood up on top of a tree shooting frantically at the beast, Angeal grabbed him around the waist, "easy Nero, you're all done."

"But, but Angeal! I need to stop that thing! Ari could still be in the city! I gotta save her!" Nero shouted struggling frantically.

"Ari is alright," Angeal replied calmly.

"I wanna talk to her!" Nero demanded still struggling.

Angeal set Nero down next to Daniel, "later." He turned to Daniel, "there's a clearing twenty yards east of here, we'll meet up with you there." He flew over the clearing seeing Adarna and Chaos standing in it, he landed. "What's going on?"

"_**Well when we spring this trap you guys will want to be well clear of it, have everyone clear out,**_" Chaos replied.

"Understood, oh and," he turned his attention to Adarna, "don't die or you'll have hell to pay from me."

Adarna let out a laugh, the sound of it made Angeal feel a lot more relaxed and stronger, "_**We'll be fine, no need to worry about her. Phoenixes will never die forever. Now you get your ass back up on that thing and hold him steady.**_"

Angeal nodded taking off, Chaos gazed at Adarna, "_**Clever. So what did you have in mind?**_"

She smiled at him kissing his lips lightly, "_**You'll love it I know. But we're going to have to use a certain someone's favorite move to get rid of it.**_"

His eyes lit up leaning forward deepening the kiss, "_**Ah that move, I love the way you think.**_"

"_**Chaos…**_" Adarna muttered before pulling back. "_**We'll have all the time in the world to catch up later, right now we need to do our job.**_"

"_**Damn… well better get this over with,**_" he sighed as they both turned their attention back to the large mass of hulking monster lumbering towards them.

On board of said beastie, Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal were fighting to stay on, much less cause any damage to him. Genesis laughed, "ah and then remember the time we all went out for pizza and Angy burned off the roof of his mouth because the pizza was too hot and he drank water after the initial burn?"

Angeal removed a hand from his sword placing it over his mouth, "how could I forget…"

Sephiroth sighed, "be glad he isn't quoting books at us…"

"You have no idea," Angeal muttered, though Genesis didn't leave Sephiroth and Angeal much time to think as he spun around and swung at Sephiroth.

"We might as well have a little fun while we're waiting!" He declared as Sephiroth blocked.

Sephiroth closed his eyes for a moment, when he opened them Chaos was flying along side of them, "_**Okay you three better clear out now, we're all set to get rid of this thing once and for all.**_"

"Understood," he nodded as Chaos banked away, "get ready to break formation, we regroup at point 0219 south southeast."

"Yes sir," Angeal nodded putting Genesis in a half Nelson hold.

"Get ready to break formation on my mark," Sephiroth continued readying himself to jump. "Wait…" he muttered. This whole time the large Nate monster had been moving steadily closer to where Chaos and Adarna had positioned themselves. Sephiroth gazed off into the distance noticing the pair just ahead of them, "go!" The three SOLDIERs leaped into the air pulling away from the thing, though Angeal was dragging Genesis away by force.

Adarna smirked as the creature approached, "_**Hey Nate, I think the plastic surgery worked for you, you're half as ugly as you were before.**_" She commented as out of the darkness her two long chains wrapped around Nate pinning him down. Chaos stood beside her, both of them held hands while the ones that weren't occupied pointed at Nate. Chaos's finger was itching on the trigger of Death Penalty watching Nate struggling to move. "_**Ready?**_" Adarna asked as she put her back to his laying her free hand on his wrist.

"_**You want to start?**_" Chaos asked mildly amused.

"_**Last time we did this I started, it's only fair you start this time,"**_ Adarna replied smirking.

"_**Okay,**_" He took a deep breath hoping to remember how the incantation went, "_**when fire breathes life into the shadows…**_" While Chaos chanted in order to focus their energy, Adarna had also been chanting to focus her energy. Around Death Penalty's barrel a large black mass of energy collected into a ball. "_**When the day fades into night… when the world fades to darkness… light and dark intertwine… Chaotica Final Execution!**_" The blast fired off hitting Nate head on, he saw it coming, and the main jaws of his draconic form opened up attempting to swallow it. However the blast pierced through him, raining down pieces of flesh onto the surrounding forest.

Adarna panted out of breath leaning up against Chaos, "_**I haven't had to work that hard for a very long time… I'm completely exhausted.**_"

He ran his fingers through her hair, "_**Me too…**_"

She gazed up at him nuzzling him, "_**But I don't want you to leave… I love you.**_"

"_**I know. I love you too, but if we cause too much damage to our hosts then we run the risk of them dying. We can see each other again when they fall asleep,**_" he muttered kissing her one last time. She leaned into it for a moment until they both broke away letting their hosts regain control. Vincent bowed his head turning his back to Ariella, "I am so sorry… I have committed yet another sin…"

Ariella walked around him watching him intently, "what's wrong?"

"I kissed you, I am twenty-seven, you cannot be older than twelve or thirteen, it is not right for me to have done so," he started to walk away sadly.

Ariella reached out snatching up one of the tattered fringes of his cloak, "wait, we don't think of it as anything bad, Chaos and Adarna, they must care deeply for one another and missed each other a lot for a very long time. They must have been happy to be together."

"That changes nothing, I have committed yet another sin," he pulled away from Ariella heading back in the direction of the mansion, avoiding bits of flesh here and there.

A pair of hands from the darkness stopped him; Angeal and Genesis had both restrained Vincent back. "You're not going anywhere until you explain what's going on." Angeal muttered glaring at Vincent.

Sephiroth emerged followed closely by Nero, Daniel, Weiss, Zack and Dante; Vincent closed his eyes as he gazed at Sephiroth, "Lucrecia…"

Angeal glared at Vincent, "who are you? _What _are you?"

Vincent brought his eyes up to meet Angeal's, "my name… is of no relevance."

"Tell me now or you'll find yourself with a broken neck," Angeal snarled.

"Vincent… Valentine…" the gunman muttered quietly.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow that name sounded vaguely familiar, "so then what are you doing here?"

"…Ask Ms. Hewley…" he muttered glancing down at Ariella.

Ariella grinned up at Angeal, "he saved us, and Chaos and Adarna both defeated the big monster thingy!"

Angeal glared down at her, eyes wide with shock, "you mean, he's Chaos?" He recalled Adarna saying something about residing within Ariella's body; he brought his fist up punching for Vincent's cheek in fury. However he connected with a smaller hand that stopped his punch despite having several bones broken in the process, Ariella glared up at him.

"Stop it please," she shouted up at him, "it's not his fault, and Chaos and Adarna love each other. They were separated for a really long time! Can't you understand how much pain they were in?"

Genesis meanwhile watched the wheels turning in Angeal's head, he turned starting to walk away, "where do you think you're going?" He stopped finding one of Dante's blades pressed to his throat.

"Nowhere," he sighed, as long as Dante was around he would never be able to get away.

Back over where everyone else was, Nero ran up and kicked Angeal's shin, "that wasn't very nice!"

Angeal's face looked mortified as he saw Ariella clutching her broken hand still planted between himself and Vincent. Vincent closed his eyes starting to walk away, "forgive me…" he muttered as he left.

Angeal started to chase after him but found himself blocked by both Nero and Ariella, "leave him be Angeal, its useless to go after him, he's as good as gone by now." Sephiroth declared.

Angeal locked his jaw but stepped back, "sorry sir."

Sephiroth nodded turning his attention back to Genesis, "as for you…"

Genesis smirked, "you're going to kill me now am I right?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "no. I'm going to bring you in alive, after all that's what friends do."

"Thank you for your sympathy old lady," Genesis rolled his eyes sarcastically.

Weiss, who had been watching from beside Zack and Daniel, checked his watch, "Nero, we need to get you into bed, it's three in the morning."

Nero glared at him indignantly, "I'm not five Weiss! I'm not sle-e-e-e-epy…" He yawned. "'Sides I gotta give Ari back her moogle!" He walked over to Ariella, face a piercing red with flush, "um, I saved him from the fire."

"Thank you Nero," Ariella replied taking her familiar moogle giving it a tight hug ignoring her broken hand.

"By your permission," Weiss saluted as he walked over to Nero scooping him up.

Sephiroth nodded as Nero yawned again falling asleep almost as soon as his head made contact with his older brother's shoulder. Zack and Daniel had started to drift off but woke up hearing Weiss leave their company. The pair followed Weiss away drowsy, Dante ghosted after them as a precaution, sleepy SOLDIERs tended to do stupid things. That left the three former friends along with Ariella. "Well Angeal, Genesis what do you have to say for yourself?" Sephiroth demanded.

"Sir…" Angeal's face fell as he held Ariella.

Genesis merely smirked, "'The World is not ours to make, only ours to take.'"

"You do realize you two will be tried and executed as traitors," Sephiroth glared at them.

Ariella's eyes went wide as she gazed at Sephiroth pleadingly upon hearing the news. The silence became tense as Sephiroth decided against response, the three men glancing between one another, until a piercing fanfare decimated the air.

Sephiroth fumbled for his PHS, "hello?"

"Sephiroth! What the hell is going on?! I heard you destroyed Nibelheim!" Lazard sounded furious.

"You see sir, remember when we sent Angeal on that special assignment to track down the traitor? We managed to apprehend Genesis Rhapsodos, however there was a monster attack on the city, hence the fires; luckily we managed to contain everything. Everyone is safe with some minor casualties." Sephiroth replied nodding over to Angeal, the SOLDIER's dark look lit up as he nodded.

"Very well, I'll be taking a helicopter out there tomorrow to meet up with you," Lazard sighed, "this is Lazard, over and out." He hung up.

Sephiroth pocketed the PHS, "damn…"

"What?" Angeal asked still holding Ariella.

"I don't want either of you to be executed," Sephiroth muttered.

"Gee thank you, Grandma, for your concern," Genesis rolled his eyes again as he replied sarcastically.

Sephiroth bared his teeth; "you wanna say that again to my face?"

"I'll say it again since you seem to be so deaf, Granny, you're an idiot," Genesis retorted.

Sephiroth ground his teeth before smirking, "that's it I'm kicking your ass."

"Bring it on, Baa-chan, you sure you don't want to grab your cane first?" Genesis added before fleeing with Sephiroth hot on his heels.

Angeal looked at Ariella, asleep at last in his arms, "whatever you do don't grow up like your real father." Ariella shifted slightly in her sleep, he wondered what she was dreaming about as he followed his friends away.


	28. Deserens Viarum

**A/N **I've had this chapter written for a while, but I wanted to finish off the story before I did any more posting. Anyway, enjoy!

Deserens Viarum – Parting of the Ways

Ariella woke up with a start in the inn back at Nibelheim; the sun had started to sink into the western sky. She stood up, she'd been asleep between Genesis and Angeal on the bed, Sephiroth lay curled up on the couch. She retrieved Kupo from the bed heading out of the room silently through the door, leaving the SOLDIERs asleep. Sliding down the rail of the stairs she ran out of the inn. She dashed through the town past a girl with brown hair and eyes along with a boy who had blond hair and blue eyes heading for the playground.

"Hey watch where you're going!" The girl shouted angrily.

"Sorry," Ariella called back waving at them not bothering to check if they were okay. She skidded to a halt in the soft sand of the playground, not bothering to rest she scrambled up the large structure to the slide, to her surprise someone was already up there, the frayed ends of his cloak touching the platform below. His long golden claws kept a firm grip on the tan plastic of the play equipment, black hair blowing slightly in the wind; Vincent turned his head to inspect Ariella. "Room for us?" She asked, without waiting for an answer she joined him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked after a long pause.

"We always watch the setting of the sun, what are you doing here?" She countered him.

"My brother, well my older one, he always did it, I guess I'm here to honor that memory," Vincent sounded as though this was a mildly amusing thought. "Also a friend of mine, reminds me a lot of you, did the same thing, they took wisdom from this part of the day. Maybe I'm looking for the same answers they found here."

"So this elder brother of yours, what sort of warrior was he? And your friend?" Ariella asked holding Kupo keeping her eyes fixed on the horizon.

Vincent let out a small snort of ironic laughter, "my brother… Leo. The most mysterious person I ever met in my life, he disappeared when he was fourteen, and it was the same night my younger brother died. But he always claimed we had some higher purpose that would change the world… I have no idea if that still holds true. My friend… no…" Vincent's eyes hastily focused on the ground, "I should go…" He attempted to stand up but Ariella stopped him.

"Don't go," she hugged him tightly around his left arm.

"But… I…" he muttered feeling sick.

"I want to thank you and Chaos, you saved Angeal and Genesis and Sephiroth and Nero and everyone." She replied keeping a vice grip on his arm.

"I deserve no thanks… if anyone should be thanking someone, you should not be thanking me… I have failed far too many people…" he muttered.

Ariella shook her head, "no… maybe you still have a chance…"

"Someday… you will find the world does not give out chances…" he muttered breaking her grip glaring at her. "'A frog in the well knows naught of the ocean.' Don't act like you know what I have been through, you are still a child, you have a long way to go."

Ariella pounced on him biting his ear harder than her previous times, Vincent sat up shoving her off as she released her grip on his ear, she'd left quite a lot of blood from this time, "do not treat us like we have never experienced pain! When we were born our parents abandoned us because they believed us to be someone who could only be a monster! We lost our family in a storm! Angeal tore us away from everything we'd ever known! He abandoned us without warning! The people who sired us hate our guts! I'm worthless as a person! No one wants me around! But you know what I never let it stop me, our mother once said, 'even if the world should turn against you, stick out your chest and roar at the top of your lungs.'" She snarled at him, leaped off of the slide storming off. "I'm sick of everything! Do whatever the hell you want! I don't care anymore!"

Vincent sat there flabbergasted, no one had ever yelled at him like that since his fight with Lucrecia. He ran his fingers through his hair watching her stalk away, _**go after her**_, Chaos ordered from the back of his mind.

_Why? _Vincent questioned.

_**The fact she got so worked up is your fault; if she taps into Adarna's full power she could easily split the world in half.**_

_The end of the world… I don't think I'd mind that…_

_**Do it before I make you do it.**_

_She will be fine, Nibelheim is a safe city. That and she has Adarna to protect her._

_**That's not the point you heartless bastard, what would Lucrecia say if she could hear you refusing to help?**_

_Lucrecia…_

_**Yeah I thought that would get you. Now are you going after her or what?**_

_I do not know… what would I say?_

_**I'm sorry would be a good place to start.**_

_Very well, I shall go atone for this sin._

Vincent pushed himself off of the slide following the sound of Ariella's footsteps; she was pacing back and forth along the bank of the little pond near the playground. He could hear her muttering, he didn't understand most of it but he did catch his name along with Angeal several times. "Hewley, are you alright?" She glared up at him, shook her head, and puffed her feathers out of her face before resuming her pacing and muttering. "Listen, I'm sorry… I forgot that even children might suffer the same as adults…"

Ariella stopped pacing, she watched him for a moment, "we forgive you… I acted rashly… the outburst earlier was unwarranted… I too am sorry."

"I forgive you," Vincent replied as he watched the water reflecting the last few colors of the sun.

Vincent stood up as darkness consumed the city, "I should go, thank you Ariella Hewley, if you ever need to get in touch you know where to find me." With that spun around with a flourish of his cloak vanishing between the darkness of the trees and night.

"Hey Vincent will we ever see you again?" Ariella called as he continued away.

"Maybe someday…" was all she got as an answer from the shadows.

Ariella smiled for a minute watching him disappear into the night. She turned around and started the trek back to the inn, (_he's a strange one. But he's a really good human.)_

_**(Yeah, this one just hope he has enough sense not to go back in that coffin.)**_

_(This one doubt he will, you and Chaos would have some sort of fit if he did.)_

_**(You got that right kiddo. Wait why'd you stop?)**_

Ariella had stopped walking gazing into the shadows of a side alleyway, _someone's in here and they're hurt. _She stepped into the alleyway heading for a tipped over trashcan, at the back of the alley several dogs were biting and snarling at a large silver creature with one wing bigger than the other. It backed into the wall of the alley nervously. Ariella ran towards the dogs roaring and snarling, "(back off Lunascum!)" Lunascum being a highly derogatory term used by her former clan in reference to wolves and dogs, she shook her head in disgust, "(Lunascum… always ganging up on those who aren't prey…)" She walked over to the strange silver winged jackle. "(Are you injured?)"

It gazed down at its badly broken right paw, Ariella grinned holding up her splinted right hand, "(join the clan.)" She pulled off her sleeve and wrapped part of it around the injury sliding the other half up onto its leg as a stocking. "(Our clan can take better care of you than we can. Are you able to walk?)" It nodded limping on the front paw but holding steady on the other three, "(okay, it's not far.)" She led the creature down the street to the inn, the innkeeper was nowhere in sight so she led it up the stairs.

"Hey Ari!" Daniel greeted stepping out of his room.

"Daniel, can you help, my friend is hurt," she asked.

Daniel opened the door to his room where he was bunked with Zack, "alright now then I'm not veterinarian but we are going to need stitches in this."

Ariella nodded and she watched her odd friend lie down offering up its paw shaking slightly. She stroked the top of its head as Daniel cleaned out the wound suturing it closed before wrapping it up securely. "There, you're friend should take it easy for a few days but he should be up and about in no time," he grinned.

"Thank you," Ariella smiled, outside the pair could hear the sound of a helicopter touching down.

All three ran outside joined by the rest of the group a moment later watching the helicopter land, out stepped Lazard looking very disgruntled at the situation. They hastily headed over to him, "Lazard," Sephiroth acknowledged as he made his way to the front of the throng before engaging in conversation as several guards stepped out of the chopper. Tseng also joined them, followed by Reno, Rude and Cissnei.

One of the guards headed for Genesis and hand cuffed him pushing him into the chopper, "excellent work General." Tseng complimented heading over to the commanders of SOLDIER.

Sephiroth kept his face neutral glancing at the stunned Ariella, "Tseng, I take it Verdot couldn't make it?"

"No sir, he and the rest of the division had to deal with AVALANCHE," the Turk Field Commander replied.

"Ah I see," Sephiroth replied as Genesis was pushed into the helicopter. One of the grunts kicked Genesis in the back laughing.

Ariella, having been picked up to get a better view from Angeal's shoulders, leaped off causing him to make a loud 'oof' of surprise and pain; during his distraction she tackled the grunt off of Genesis. "Leave him alone!" She snarled baring her teeth at the startled grunt clamping onto his neck since his ear was covered by his helmet.

"Ariella let him go!" Angeal ordered.

Ariella reluctantly backed off sitting by Genesis, who was coughing slightly. The startled grunt picked up Ariella by her collar tossing her to the ground, "run back home to mommy kid, this is official Shin-Ra business."

She glared at him, "then that makes it our business."

"Who the hell do you think you are kid?" The grunt growled picking up his rifle aiming it at her.

"Ariella Hewley, daughter of Angeal Hewley, SOLDIER First Class, and pride member of the clan known as SOLDIER," she announced standing up.

The grunt's jaw went slack as he looked over at Angeal and the others, "you mean you… and them…" He hastily climbed back into the chopper.

Reno laughed jabbing Ariella in the arm, "hey kiddo, long time no see. You doin' okay right?"

She nodded, "yeah we're fine, what about you Big Brother?"

"Yep, peachy," he stood up noticing Tseng had his death glare on. Reno winced as he walked over to them. "See ya later kiddo."

Ariella sighed as Angeal picked her up, "Must you keep biting people?"

"Yes, it is how you reprimand your pride is it not," she stated it as more of a fact than posing it as a question.

"Not quite," Angeal glanced down at the strange beast sitting and watching him, "Ariella where did you find him?"

"He was in an alley with some despicable Lunascum," Ariella replied waving at her friend, "he's injured and needs our help."

"Ari…" Angeal sighed for a moment recognizing the beast for what it was, an A-Clone, or Angeal clone. A wave of awkwardness washed over him, the fact he was staring at a clone of himself bothered him immensely. "We can't keep him."

"Please? We promise to make sure he stays out of trouble!" She looked at him with her best kitten expression, "please?"

"Well…" he considered for a moment, he did owe Ariella, and the clone would keep her company when he was away, letting out a sigh he watched her, "only if he can behave himself."

"We know he will! Thank you Angeal!" Ariella reached down hugging Angeal around the head.

Angeal laughed hugging her back. "But either way it's time for you to get some sleep, I assure you nothing bad will happen to Genesis or anyone else."

Ariella yawned again, "If you say so…" She lay her head down on his head shoulder drifting off again.

Angeal sighed, he set her down in the chopper, he picked a good seat where he could keep her close followed by the A-Clone. The Turks and main army were to stay behind to take care of any residual monster attacks while they headed back. Everyone else piled into the chopper, Nero picking the seat next to Ariella with Weiss sitting next to him. He sighed as he saw her sitting against Angeal out like a light bulb, "why can't she just use me for a pillow?"

"I dunno… now let me sleep Nero," Weiss yawned, he had been asleep back at the inn until the chopper arrived and he needed rest.

"But Weiss!" Nero protested.

"I'll figure it out later," Weiss grumbled.

Nero glared at him for a moment, several shadows threatening to grab his older brother and shake him awake. However the sound of his brother's snoring joining a chorus of other noises made him yawn, he leaned up against his brother drifting off.

Ariella woke up somewhere over the intercontinental date line watching Genesis for a while holding Kupo tightly to her, "excuse us, Genesis, may we speak with you?"

He glanced up from where he had been asleep, " what?! Oh Ari… thought you were the old lady… go ahead."

"Well… it's about something you said when we first met you," she asked awkwardly. "You said, our real sire would be proud of us… we have observed the one you called Jacob from a distance for some time now, the only one he seems interested in only my brother Kai."

Genesis's brows furrowed, then he smiled somewhat sadly at her, a rather unusual look for the cynical ex-SOLDIER. "I wasn't talking about Jacob, I was referring to myself."

Ariella's eyes widened, "then you… you are our sire?"

"Yeah… not what you were expecting were you?" He laughed a little. "Back when I was still dating Darcia, well we did a lot things together. When I found out she was pregnant with you I honest to the Goddess thought you were Jacob's. But when I finally put two and two together it was too late, during my later trips to Banora I kept an eye out for any sign of you but none came. Eventually I shifted my thoughts to the destruction of Shin-Ra, I thought maybe you were ready to live without Angeal and that we could recreate the world, a world where monsters would be accepted, like the one in Loveless. I still haven't given up hope yet that that day will come but I figure I can let you have him for a little while longer." He watched Angeal and Sephiroth's sleeping faces quietly with a sort of affection, "after all someone has to look after this wimp and the old lady."

Ariella scrunched up a little for a moment before smiling a little, "we can do that for you."

"That's my girl, now get some sleep, it's a long flight back to Midgar," he smiled at her before leaning back against his seat falling asleep.

Ariella scrunched up against Angeal falling asleep holding Kupo securely to her, their newest family member's head on her lap. Sephiroth cracked an eyelid, "emotional investment… it's not weakness… it's strength, I understand now, Major." He closed his eyes falling back asleep.


	29. Milites Incultae Terrae

**A/N: **This is a complete side story to the main one, it was a one shot that tied in so well the story I couldn't leave it as a one shot floating out in space, so rather think of it as an optional chapter, if you don't want to read it then you can go on ahead to the next main chapter. Also I place this chapter as 16+ since there is some violence and Adarna's mouth.

Milites Incultae Terrae – Soldiers of the Wasteland

"You crumby bastard! I hate you! I hate you!" She screamed punching the wall in front of her, sending a spider web of cracks along its surface.

"Knight General Adarna please calm down!" One of the attendants shouted nervously.

Adarna's pupils narrowed into flashing molten orbs, tears streaming down her face, "calm down!? Calm down?! How the hell do you expect me to calm down?!" She glared at the room for a minute then down at the elegant three headed dog ring on her left ring finger, three ruby eyes glinting up at her. "Crumby bastard! You knew she was going to do this! I hate you! I hate you!"

Slowly the room full of attendants backed out through the door, the one who had shouted at Adarna, slumped against the wall, "it has only been a few days since Knight General Chaos left…"

One of the other attendants nodded, "I can't say I'm surprised, he did propose to her before his orders came. She's really upset though… we better go alert Her Ladyship…"

The attendants hastily weaved their way through the levels of the castle to the main office of the Goddess Minerva. They knocked, "um… Lady Minerva…."

"Enter," came a gentle voice from the other side of the door.

They pushed open the doors to find a young lady with long blond eyes and brown eyes sitting behind the desk clad in white. She smiled up at the attendants, "ah Ciadar, Shizune, what may I help you with?"

"It's Knight General Adarna," Ciadar replied.

"She's tearing her quarters apart," Shizune continued.

"Please you must talk some sense into her head before she destroys the palace," they finished their story.

Minerva considered this for a long while, "I see… send her in."

They bowed and ran back to the room, they opened the door only to have it shattered apart as they did so, "what do you want?!" Adarna snarled at the two frightened people.

"Lady Minerva wished to see you," Shizune squeaked finding her voice first.

Adarna smirked slightly, "about time dammit," she ran out of the room heading for the Office of the Goddess. "Lady Minerva, Knight General Adarna humbly presents herself."

"Adarna perfect timing," Minerva stood up, white robe flowing out behind her as she crossed the room, "come join me for a walk."

"Yes my Lady," she bowed as they left the office, out the front door of the palace onto the grounds, it was hard to believe the whole place was beneath a lake, though the rippling sky gave it away.

They entered into a garden of white and gold flowers, "so how have your divisions been getting on?"

"Fine my Lady, we are currently three thousand swords and spears strong, with some equivalent number of fangs and claws," Adarna replied slightly proud of herself. "Though they have been restless that there hasn't been any action for a while…" she muttered forcing herself not to start screaming again, "if I may ask as to the nature of Chaos's mission?"

"You may, actually it pertains to your next assignment," the Goddess smiled as a butterfly perched on her outstretched finger. "I want you to prepare the squadrons for their duties after the war."

Adarna gaped revealing her pointed canines, "but… but… but!"

"Adarna, I admire your commitment to this cause but this is the end you must leave him behind and prepare for the task ahead." Minerva responded calmly.

Adarna clenched her fists; she snapped one arm up and grabbed her elder by the collar, "leave him behind! I don't want to leave him behind! I can't leave him behind! I love him!"

However at that moment Adarna's hand was removed and she was pinned under ten bodies, with two spear tips along her throat, "I really hoped you would listen but it would seem not." Minerva sighed apologetically, she looked at the twelve assembled ninjas, "Knight General Adarna I herby place you under arrest until the end of this war."

Adarna struggled, "that's not fair! Let me go you bastards! Let me go help him!"

The Goddess shook her head, "take her to the dungeon."

"Dammit! Chaos!!" she screamed again as she was knocked out.

When Adarna came to, she found herself locked in a black pit of chains and skeletons, her own arms hanging above her own head, feet also barred in. She was suspended between the sets of chains about five feet above the ground, her only light source came from her unnatural ability to see in pitch black. She struggled for a moment, "damn it…" she grumbled as she hung limply. Her internal clock was telling her it was about midnight; she growled slightly, these were special power draining cuffs for use against the WEAPONs. She swung again for a moment trying to break loose but it wasn't working very well, she stopped struggling again panting. She swallowed, what if Chaos was dead? "He's not dead…"

Are you sure about that?

"Damn straight I am, he's too strong and too determined," she muttered reassuringly.

Then why are you in here?

"Because I was reckless…"

So why not escape?

"Cause I can't."

Why not?

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

Well I'd feel more threatened if you were loose.

"Well let me outta here and I'll show you how threatening I am."

So that brings us back to our original dilemma of you being in the middle of your escape.

"I hate you… if you're not going to help me then get me out of here."

You're more than capable on your own; I seem to recall you have a file in your left boot.

She blinked; she did have a small file tucked in there for emergencies. She scrunched up pulling the small metal plank out of her leather boot. Clamping down with her teeth she put the edge of the file to the binding connecting her hands together and the ceiling. "Hold on love, don't die yet," she managed as she started to file away with her mouth. After several hours she broke through the chain and toppled to the floor. "I dare you to stop me now!" She shouted taking the file out of her mouth and making quick work of the one holding her legs down. Finally freed she set about on an escape route, up was her best bet, "I don't see an up exit…" she sat down slumped against the wall, even free she still needed to get out. Slumping against the wall she considered sleep, but shook her head, she could sleep after she found Chaos. Sniffing slightly her eyes widened a little, fresh air, she sniffed again, right behind her; she was sitting on the exit. "Wahoo! Just you wait Chaos I'm coming!"

She started to dig voraciously with her hands, until she saw a small glimmer of moonlight outside; she persisted until she crafted a crawlspace just big enough to squeeze through. Shifting a large rock over the entrance she crawled through to the other side, standing up she found herself only a few dozen feet below the armory, smirking she found a handhold on the bricks and started her climb upwards. Finally climbing up to the window she saw her armor, freshly polished reflecting the moonlight. Opening up the window she slid inside of the armory of the Nine Generals and the Goddess. In the center of the semicircle she saw a metal statue of the Goddess she bowed to one knee, "my Lady forgive me." She gazed around the room, each of the suits of armor folded into another shape so they would not be easily recognized. Adarna found hers, a reddish orange bird with a crest of long feathers and tail of elliptical ones that almost reached the ground. She stroked the head gently, "time to wake up now."

The bird shaped armor glowed for a minute before flying apart and attaching over Adarna's body. Behind it she picked up the large sword sitting beside it, her Buster Sword sitting docile against the wall, effortlessly she hefted the sword to her back attaching it to the special holder magnet. She smirked and walked over to the window leaping out of it hitting the ground running, she leaped up over the walls following the tunnels out into the night air above the lake. Closing her eyes she continued running along the path of the canyon through the eerie glowing forest covered in pale golden shining leaves. Her four talon boots left distinct tracks in the soft ground but it didn't bother her as she kept running. "Chaos, hold on, I'm coming." She muttered as the canyon faded into barren plains of snow, she ran on top of the snow heading for an imposing mountain in the distance.

She kept running and following the mountains as the sun rose crossing the sky, finally on the horizon she could see a large unnatural ring of mountains. "Alright Jenova…. If it's a fight you want it's a fight you'll get." She drew the large sword off of her back smirking. She charged up the side of the crater stopping to glare into the crater, she glanced down at her wrist where the manacle stayed attached, "guess it's too late now." With that said she stepped back before charging forward leaping headfirst into the heart of the crater.

As she fell into the pitch-black energy various nasty beasts attempted to try and devour her, all of them decrepit, mutilated servants of Jenova, twisted by Geostigma beyond recognition. Adarna summoned fire to her sword clawing her way through them as she fell, when there was a break in their ranks she wondered vaguely how far down this cavern went. While she pondered this, a large Harpy swooped down and bit into her side, she grunted grabbing the feathered woman's head and crushing in the skull at the same time she fell into a pool of inky black water.

"Chaos!? Chaos?!" Adarna called as she sat up shaking her sopping red hair out of her eyes. Standing up she gazed around the cavern, "Chaos are you here?" She wandered through the dark cavern network.

"Knight General Adarna, welcome to the city of Aeterna Nox," a cold voice greeted her from behind.

She froze, she knew that voice, it was one of the Cetra fully contaminated by Jenova, "Sephiroth, it's been a long time, how have you been?" she kept her voice level as she turned to the silver haired and jade eyed man behind her.

"I have no wish to fight you," Adarna shook her head, "just let me take a peek around and if I don't find what I came here for then by all means fight me."

"Hmm, well actually I don't feel much like fighting either, so instead, I'll let Mother's youngest child play with you," he smirked before letting out an ear splitting whistle.

Adarna sensed someone behind her, a lone figure emerged out of the darkness, and two folded red wings graced his back. A red spiked face guard protected most of his upper head, a lone tendril of hair streaming in front of his right eye with the left one rimmed by a part of the mask. She felt her face go pale as she let her eyes trace his face, "C-Chaos… no… I…"

He glared at her summoning a large black and silver gun to his hand pointing it at her head. He squeezed the trigger stiffly sending a black energy beam at her, she blinked leaning back out of the way as the beam grazed her cheek leaving four thin scars, her sword clattered to the ground. "What are you doing?!" He didn't reply other than to shoot again, she cart wheeled out of the way, "I don't want to fight you!" She shouted as he fired beam after beam, the gap by which she dodged narrowing little by little. "Please don't!" However he shot at her as she said this, this beam splitting through her stomach dissolving a deep gash through it as she moved out of the way, her armor shattered over the wound leaving blood smeared in the direction of the shot.

"Shit, you're serious aren't you…? Well if I have to beat you senseless to get you back then I'll do it," she coughed sending a spray of crimson onto the ground.

Leaping out of the way of another attack she put her left hand out in front of her palm up, her other hand placed on top of it as she summoned a massive fireball lifting it over her head, "Nova Exclamation!" She roared as she flung it at Chaos. He smirked and shot it dispelling the attack in one shot. "Shit," Adarna exclaimed as she rolled out of the way of his shot clutching her still bleeding wound. "Well I have one last chance to get at him," she muttered, she charged at him in a flash of red finding herself impaled onto his clawed left hand. She coughed up another wave of blood; grabbing his elbow she pulled herself up and kissed him. He tore his hand out of her body and grabbed her head, "well shit I thought that might work."

He let go for a moment, _**"A...da…r…na?"  
**_  
"Yeah it's me, I love you," she muttered as he clutched his head before swinging at her.

She stepped back but she fell on something, the large round piece of materia rolled in front of her in front of Chaos, _**"Adarna? What's going on?"  
**_  
"I dunno… I think maybe she had something to do with this," Adarna muttered as she picked up the glowing orb. "You were going psycho until this thing showed up." She suddenly put it up to Chaos's chest, "it told me to."

"_**Ow…"**_ he grunted as it melded into his chest leaving one side glowing blue. _**"That hurt."  
**_  
"Not as bad as you shooting me," Adarna laughed before coughing, "shit…"

Chaos moved her hands and examined her wound, _**"it's pretty bad, and you should go back to the army and get a field surgeon to sew you up."**_

"I didn't come with the army, I came on my own," Adarna muttered.

"_**You mean you followed me? I thought that mission was a secret," **_Chaos growled as he ripped off her gauntlet taking the sleeve of her tunic with it. He pulled the cloth out tearing it into a long strip and wrapping her up. _**"I didn't want you to follow me."**_

"But…" she pondered for a moment, and then she slapped his cheek as hard as she could, "you bastard! You proposed to spend the rest of eternity with me! You don't tell someone you love them then run off and do some damn suicide mission!"

"_**Adarna…"**_ Chaos muttered.

"When this is over you better make up for it," she smirked as she kissed him, tongue wrapping roughly around his.

"_**I promise,"**_ he managed before he wrapped his arms around her neck. He leaned forward laying on top of her, _**"how about I make it up right now?" **_He whispered kissing her neck raking his teeth along the throbbing pulse.

"Er… later," she muttered feeling her wound throbbing painfully.

He backed off handing her the discarded gauntlet; _**"sorry… what's your plan now?"**_

"I was thinking we go right to the source," Adarna smirked.

"_**I love the way you think,"**_ Chaos smirked kissing her again.

"You better," Adarna smirked as they took off running towards the inner sanctum of Aeterna Nox. She picked up her sword sticking it back onto her magnet as they ran.

Chaos finally managed a decent coherent thought that didn't involve himself and Adarna and a nice bed, "_**when this is over I still want you to marry me.**_"

"I want to marry you too," Adarna smiled at him as they finally reached the inner most networks of caverns.

"Take a good look, I regret to inform you we're repainting the place today," the chilling voice of Sephiroth drifted behind them.

"Damn I liked the decoration in here," Adarna sighed. "Ah well," her hand snaked slowly up to her back drawing the Buster Sword off of it. She spun around swinging at Sephiroth, he blocked her attack smirking.

"Well you certainly are a feisty one, I guess you want to play with me after all," he chuckled repelling Adarna.

"Chaos finish off Jenova, I'll deal with this joker," she called at him.

"_**Be careful,**_" he cautioned and ran on ahead.

She glared at her opponent, "when was the last time we fought? The Burning Fields?"

"Yes, you possess a good memory, that battle was indecisive, however I do believe today we should finish our rivalry once and for all, Mother has told me to kill you and so I shall," he replied flashing over to her, Adarna however saw every slash hidden in that step, she blocked landing a few feet away.

"The same trick won't work on a Knight twice," Adarna smirked standing up.

Sephiroth smirked and brushed off his black leather jacket, "yes but that wasn't the same trick. I take it you noticed my concentration of attack."

She nodded, "yeah," a moment later she felt her wounded right side open, "shit… crumby bastard…" she coughed spitting out some blood.

"In a few minutes the miasma of this cavern will bed you to Mother's side, now you may continue fighting and try to die, but I think I would rather like you as a sister. Or you may submit quietly," he continued.

She thought for a moment, she couldn't afford to drag this out, either she died here and failed or she got him to take her to Jenova, "please brother, take me to our Mother."

"You've made a wise choice, now if we can convince Chaos to join us then maybe Mother would let you two be together."

"I think I would like that Brother, would you like to attend our wedding should Mother approve?"

"I would, like that I think. Then we could all be a family."

"Good, are we close yet?"

"Yes, it is time for you to meet Mother." He opened a door into a lonely little room, "I take it you wish to meet Mother alone, I will be waiting for you in the study, Sister."

"I will see you then, Brother." She replied walking inside feeling her wound throbbing painfully, the skin around it knitting together a pale grey, she checked her right hand wincing as she felt the armor protecting it melting into her skin, changing from vibrant reddish gold to a fiery protrusion of bone.

"_Ah my youngest daughter, welcome home._" Greeted a woman in a black low cut dress with silver hair, one eye masked by the hair, the other one jade green with a cat slit.

"Mother," Adarna smiled hands slowly wrapping behind her head in an attempt to show relaxation rather than go for the Buster Sword gritting her teeth at the pain in her gut. "How are you?"

"_Fine my dear, and how are you?_" She asked walking up to Adarna wrapping her arms around the lanky Knight.

"Fine, and _how are you Mother?_" Adarna muttered, voice cracking in a gravely growl.

"_Splendid, and I see you are already adjusting to the atmosphere of Aeterna Nox. Soon that armor of yours will be stronger than ever._" Jenova whispered stroking Adarna's bloody cheek turning the skin black there too.

"_Mother…_" Adarna muttered as she drew one hand closer to the Buster Sword, quicker than expected she drew the massive blade off of her back slamming it into Jenova as hard as she could. The damage however was only that the dress was cut; there was no visible injury.

Jenova smirked, "_It would seem you're displeased._"

"_Damn right… __**I am,**_" Adarna's voice cracked again taking on a smoother tone. "_**Now then,"**_ she summoned up a tendril of fire that wrapped around the blade, _**"Omnislash!"**_ She flashed towards Jenova catching her in the fifteen hit attack, however when the attack was over Adarna glared down at her hands, her hands had trickles of blood dripping between them. She coughed again, one of her ribs jabbing her in the lung _**"shit… shit… shit…"**_ Adarna muttered over and over again as Jenova cackled standing over her.

"_You didn't think a little child born of this disgusting dirt ball would be enough to stop me, Minerva? You've lost your touch, now then,_" Jenova turned her attention to the bloody Adarna, "_Descend, Heartless Angel._"

Adarna felt the life pulled out of her body, "_**dammit…**_" she managed to stagger up coughing blood, broken rib stabbing her in the lung causing her to cough up more blood. She brought one hand up weakly but swung her whole body into it, clawed fingers digging into Jenova's skin tearing into the sensitive tissue of her eye.

Jenova reeled back, one hand clenching her face, her free hand stabbed into Adarna's wound plunging through the internal organs grabbing whatever she could and pulling out as hard as possible. Adarna howled in pain coughing violently falling on her back to the ground, bits of bloody tissue littering the ground. "_**Chaos…"**_ she whispered faintly reaching out in front of her blindly with her left hand, she smiled at the ring, then her hand went slack hitting the ground with a dull thud as her eyes closed.

"Huh? Where am I?" Adarna asked looking around her white field of vision. "Am I dead? Ah well… so much for being an immortal bird…"

"Adarna?" A smooth masculine voice spoke up behind her, she spun around, walking behind her was Chaos. Not in twisted, Jenova contaminated form, but the real him, his deep crimson eyes, ebony hair framing his face as he walked, that same bang bouncing in front of his face. He wasn't wearing a top, but that was fine by her.

Her eyes widened, "Chaos… you crumby bastard!" She roared as she slugged him.

"Oww! What the hell'd you do that for?" He snapped at her.

"You crumby bastard! I thought you were dead! You left me I hate you… I hate you… I hate you…" she sobbed crumbing to the ground hugging her chest, pearly white tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he whispered kneeling down and pulling her into his arms running his fingers through her hair. She buried her face in his chest sobbing for hours, all the time he held her quietly waiting for her tears to subside. "Shh… you're okay… I love you… you're safe now… I love you…"

"I wub yu too…" Adarna sniffled, voice hampered by emotion and tears.

"Shh… you're okay…" Chaos muttered kissing away her tears. "I love you." She smiled snuggling up to him until she fell asleep.

Cccccccc

Ariella finished watching gazing at Adarna sadly,_ I'm sorry you had to suffer so greatly for so long…_

_**Hey, it's not your fault, I was reckless back then, my emotions got in my way.**_

_But still I…_

_**Aww quit blaming yourself, it's not your fault for the millionth time.**_

_I have one more question, what happened to your Buster Sword?_

_**Well according to Chaos our weapons were passed along, always preserved through the ages should the day come when we needed them again.**_

_Oh so then is the one that Dad has the one that you had?_

_**I don't know, that day when we went into his home and we tried to touch it he stopped me before I could see if it was mine.**_

_I'm sorry… what about your chains though?_

_**Oh those? Those ones still on my wrists were morphed by Jenova, my Lady bound me up like a prisoner again, I didn't realize that until I was free from slumber and met you. That was the last time I saw him until two days ago, I thought he was dead up until then.**_

_I'm sorry… I love you… _Ariella snuggled up against the taller.

_**I love you too, but we better wake up soon, I sense Midgar is close.**_


	30. Vita Est Bona

**A/N: **For those who chose to skip the optional chapter you didn't anything that pertains to any major events in the remainder of the story.

Vita Est Bona - Life is Good

Shin-Ra Blackhawk 0392 entered the air space over Midgar at around five in the evening Midgar Standard Time. The only person to notice this seemingly normal event was Kai Morgan, on his way back from Sunny Day Elementary School. "Better go check it out! My sister is counting on me!" With that he ran over to the Shin-Ra building over to the elevators, he went to the top floor of the Scientific Apartments. Climbing onto a trash can he pulled the grating off of a vent pulling himself in, it was too small for an average adult but he fit in comfortably. He crawled along until he reached a larger airshaft; pulling out a dart gun he tied a string to one of the darts shooting it to the far side before he swung across. He crawled across another ten feet or so of duct before he turned right, he arrived at a small grate opening right onto the helipad. "Now to see whose here." He sat there watching for a moment spotting Ariella climbing out followed by Sephiroth, Zack, and a whole bunch of other SOLDIERs along with a strange silver jackle griffin. "Ari's back!" he shouted kicking off the grating, he climbed out and ran across the platform.

"Ari! Welcome home!" He shouted hugging her tightly.

"Kai!" she smiled licking him on the cheek. She picked him up hugging him, "Kai let us introduce you to these two, this is Angeal Hewley," she pointed at where Angeal was helping the handcuffed Genesis out of the aircraft, "and the other is Genesis Rhapsodos, our… er my… father. The silver one is our newest friend." She stroked the Angeal clone's head while watching Sephiroth joining Angeal and Genesis.

"Wow… you mean the Second SOLDIER Trifuredent!" Kai's eyes widened in awe at the trio.

"That's Triumferret kiddo," Zack grinned ruffling his hair.

"That would be Triumvirate Zack," Daniel corrected as he shook his head.

"Yeah we were talking about you in school today!" Kai shouted excitedly as he and Zack led the group off of the helipad. Zack walked next to him listening curiously to him followed by Lazard, curious as to what the boy had to say.

Sephiroth walked along watching them, "well he'll make a good SOLDIER someday…"

Nero joined Ariella as she smiled, "so then who's the munchkin?"

"That's our little brother," Ariella defended.

"So then you're like Weiss to him. How come he's never around?" he asked innocently. "What about your mom? You don't look much like Angeal so whose you're dad? Where did you grow up?"

"Er… it is very difficult to explain," Ariella muttered awkwardly, the clone nuzzling her hand out of concern.

Weiss trailed watching them, if anyone knew the difficulties of families it was he. And he judged by Ariella's reaction, she had a bit of trouble dealing with the subject, he left his little spot walking over to Nero, "come on you, I bet you're hungry."

"But I wanna talk to Ari some more," he defied stubbornly.

"Nero now," Weiss muttered dragging him gruffly away from Ariella and the group, "leave Ari alone."

"What'd I do?! I was tryin' ta be nice!" Nero snapped at him.

"Nero look at her," Weiss muttered gently, Ariella had taken to leaning on Angeal's shoulders while they waited for Sephiroth to input the code to the door. "Get it?"

"No I don't!"

"Nero stop asking people questions they don't want to answer."

Nero's face fell, he probably made Ariella uncomfortable, "I'm sorry Weiss… I didn't know."

"Well we'll be heading home, she's probably going to want some quality time with Angeal, you two can play later," Weiss promised as he ushered his younger brother towards the door.

Sephiroth stopped everyone before they entered, "wait a minute. Before you head back in I have something I want to say."

Dante smirked, "here it comes, the good job people speech."

"Over the last few weeks week a lot of things have happened, some of which I'm still highly confused about, but nevertheless I want to pass on something. A wise man once said to me that I should try emotionally investing in something because it would do wonders for binding people to me. During this trip I came to realize that I had an emotional investment in something, that if something happened to them I would be saddened by the loss. I finally realized that I not only cared about my friends but everyone in SOLDIER, from the future of the group, to the people I've known the longest. And I just wanted to say, thank you."

The group went into a collective pale, "Ari run and get me some wet towels!" Angeal ordered. She ran off followed by the Angeal clone in search of the bathroom.

"He's not running a fever!" Genesis shouted as he pressed his forehead against Sephiroth's.

"General I highly recommend you lie down," Dante requested.

Sephiroth frowned, "I was trying to say something meaningful!"

"No sir this isn't like you at all, did you eat any strange food in your travels? What about bizarre animals? Did you get a concussion?" Dante continued.

"I'm fine," Sephiroth grumbled as he was forcibly supported between Zack and Daniel.

Kai gazed up at Lazard confused, "is something the matter with the General?"

"No need to worry, the General is just fine, I think everyone is just overreacting," Lazard reassured ruffling his hair.

Ariella and the Angeal clone returned with a six foot long wet brown streamer of paper, "we're back!"

"Um… well…" Angeal felt a sweat drop come on as the pair tossed the paper towel over Sephiroth's head, the front end clinging to his bare chest, it went up over his head trailing all the way to the end of his hair.

Genesis laughed, "ah that's my girl… couldn't have done it better myself and believe me I wanted to."

Sephiroth growled, "calm… calm… no killing him…"

"General Sephiroth, Director Lazard," a large armored force appeared in the hallway, "we are now taking the prisoner to quarantine."

Sephiroth removed himself from Daniel and Zack, grateful for the opportunity, "not necessary, I have specific orders to take the prisoner into house arrest and personal surveillance."

"But sir!" The lead troop protested, "Our orders came from Executive Heidegger!"

"Well there's been a change of plans, now if you'll kindly move we have just flown direct from Nibelheim and the group is rather cranky, you wouldn't want to annoy one of us by mistake." Sephiroth replied calmly as he and his group pushed past the armed escort heading for the elevators.

They split up taking both cars to the dormitory level, as the mass swarmed out of the cars Kai trailed the group watching them for a moment, Ariella and the Angeal clone stopped walking, "Kai, what's wrong?"

"Nothing… I gotta get back to Mom and Dad…" Kai muttered not wanting to leave his sister just yet.

"Well before you go," Ariella reached into her pocket handing him the small black rock he'd given her, "thanks to your charm we were safe."

"No problem, I'll see you later," Kai smiled as they punched fists before hugging. He reentered the elevator putting on a very determined look, he made his decision, and he wanted to get to the bottom of why his parents hated his sister once and for all.

"Ari, hurry up," Angeal called as the group dispersed into the First Class apartments, Angeal followed Genesis and Sephiroth back to Sephiroth's apartment with Ariella and the clone bringing up the rear.

The first thing Sephiroth did was to release Genesis from his handcuffs, "you and I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"And whatever would that be Granny dearest?" Genesis questioned slyly.

"You and me, right here right now, Guitar Warrior III, if I win you stop calling me any derogatory term in reference to elderly people," Sephiroth challenged.

"You never learn do you, you can't beat me… well I accept your challenge, and if I win you become my slave," Genesis calmly replied as they bee-lined for the living room.

Angeal wandered into the kitchen, Ariella walked over to one of the stools around the long bar near the kitchen watching Sephiroth and Genesis curiously. The Angeal clone sat down next to her on the floor, Sephiroth and Genesis put on their controllers glaring at each other.

"Since you proposed the challenge I get to pick," Genesis smirked as he flicked through the game menus effortlessly.

"Name your terms Mr. Rhapsodos," Sephiroth growled.

"TTFAF, Battle, Expert," Genesis replied finding the right screen.

"Bring it on," Sephiroth's frown replied by a slight smile of anticipation.

The loading screen simply wished them luck as it changed to the split of tracks, they brought up their strumming hands to the buttons on the neck tapping out the very rapid intro section, they flew back to the strum bar as the main song started up. Ariella's eyes widened at how fast they were playing, however by the first verse they had started trying to shove each other over to mess the other up. Angeal shook his head, "Ari you do know this isn't how mature, responsible adults should be behaving don't you?"

She turned away from the game nodding, "yeah we noticed."

"Good girl, now eat your dinner," he smiled setting out a plate of steak.

She sniffed it eating it hastily; Angeal sighed setting out another one for the Angeal Clone, "well eat up Ami."

"What is Ami?" Ariella asked confused.

"It's the name of our newest family member, Ami's short for Amistad, it means loyal friend," Angeal replied as he shook his head watching Sephiroth and Genesis battling. "Ari please tell me you understand that this is not how mature, responsible adults behave." He knew he had already asked this but he wanted to make sure, Genesis tended to say yes to the first time you asked him something then go right back to ignoring what you just asked him. Fortunately Ariella didn't seem to have inherited that habit.

"We noticed," Ariella nodded as she looked back over her shoulder, both Genesis and Sephiroth were now swinging around their guitar controllers like swords, the music all but forgotten.

"Ari, I was meaning to ask you about that necklace you're wearing," Angeal asked noticing the glinting metal under her hair.

"Oh this," she asked pulling it out from under her shirt, the two silver wings shimmering, "it was a gift from Aerith before we left. We believe it to be a lucky charm, since they remind us of you."

"I see," Angeal smiled at her putting the plates in the dishwasher.

A moment later Sephiroth was chasing Genesis around the apartment; the latter ran behind Angeal dragging him into the chase somehow. Ariella and Amistad looked at each other, "(he says they aren't behaving as normal people should. We think we should go elsewhere before something happens and maybe obtain some assistance.)"

Amistad nodded standing up, Ariella slid off of her stool, and they walked over to the door and left quietly heading for elsewhere. The pair wandered down the halls for a moment rounding the corner seeing someone somewhat unexpected, Dante, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt with a large ornate G printed on it came walking down the hall. Behind him trailed a small kite, "Hewley," he greeted quietly, "not taking the opportunity to enjoy your fathers' return?"

She shook her head; "Dad said they weren't behaving like real adults so we left to go to sleep."

He raised an eyebrow scratching behind one of Amistad's ears, "Probably a wise decision, as I recall, they can get pretty reckless."

Amistad's left hind leg thumped rapidly as Dante scratched his ear, Ariella noticed the kite dangling from Dante's free hand, "what's that?"

He glanced back at the kite, "oh this, just a way I relieve stress, want to give it a try?" He offered the stick to her.

She took it gazing at the small paper on the end of the string, "how does it work?"

"Just run down the hall and make it fly," he instructed, she nodded taking off down the hall at a jog, the kite lifted up into the air. She grinned as she reached the end of the hall turning and running back to Dante. "How do you like it?"

"It's fun," Ariella smiled at him. They fell into silence for a minute, "you know, you're a lot different then we thought you were."

Dante considered this for a moment, "well maybe I've changed… for better… for worse I can't say. But this is no time to be thing about this sort of thing, it's getting late and you've had a long day, go get some sleep." She nodded pushing the kite towards him, he put his hand on hers, "keep it, consider it an apology for earlier."

She smiled at him giving him a hug before running off letting the kite soar once again followed by Amistad down the hall to Angeal's apartment, she opened the door disappearing inside. Dante watched her go for a minute, "what the hell was I apologizing for… shit…" He hung his head running a hand through his hair slinking away to find his stuff and blow of some steam in the simulation deck. Half way down the hall though he passed one of the electronic bulletin boards scattered throughout Shin-Ra. At first he only gave it a passing glance, but then he did a double take as he read the posting on there,

Attention all Shin-Ra employees:

Tomorrow all personnel A class and above are to report to Execution Ground 5 at 12:00:00 pm in formal attire for the execution of former Lieutenant of SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos.

"No way… they wouldn't…" Dante muttered before closing his eyes smirking, "Well it looks like things just got a lot more complicated. Now Master, General, what will you do?" he turned walking away, he needed to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time.


	31. Fin Laborum

Fin Laborum - End of the Labors

The sun had hidden behind the clouds as the clocks around Midgar tolled the noon dirge for the condemned. Angeal Hewley, in his formal military attire, gazed down the line of SOLDIERs and Turks, Sebastian and Weiss stood next to him, followed by Zack, Daniel, and the rest of the First Class. He glanced up at the imposing figure of the Shin-Ra building, he left Ariella and Amistad home alone, and the last thing he'd want her to see was her father's death. As an added precaution he even unplugged the TV to stop her watching the live broadcast. Across the line of armed guards he could see the scientific division, Darcia and Jacob stood a few yards away from the SOLDIER chatting. Angeal closed his eyes trying to pick out what they were saying.

"It serves him right abandoning Shin-Ra," he could hear Jacob declare.

"Yes but…" Darcia muttered sobbing slightly, "that bastard was once my friend…"

"Shh, it's okay sweetie, after we get done here we can go back home, I'll take the three of us out to dinner, then later," his voice dropped where Angeal couldn't hear it. "How does that sound?"

Darcia nodded weakly, "sounds nice…" she glanced around spotting Angeal and smiling shakily at him. Clearly she still considered him a friend, however Angeal frowned at her, eyes narrowing, it would be a long time before he would forgive her for what she and her husband did to Ariella.

Her face fell slightly and she looked away as a hush fell over the crowd. He glanced down the line again, Weiss had disappeared out of the line, he shrugged, and he probably just had to find the restroom or something along those lines. He turned his head the other way watching Sephiroth's dark expression feeling his heart sink even lower, "don't blame yourself Seph…"

"But I…" he muttered barely audible to the older man.

A loud drum beat silenced Sephiroth's thoughts, down the aisle of people marched several ranks of guards surrounding Genesis, Angeal desperately attempted to see his best friend's face but the curtain of honey brown hair masked that. Angeal felt his heart beating in his throat fighting the urge to do something, two conflicting promises at war with one another. Finally Genesis was marched right past them, Angeal saw his smirk and watched him mouth the words, 'scared you wimp? Well I have a plan.' Angeal's mako enhanced blue eyes widened with surprise. Up at the top of the platform stood Lazard along with the other executives, his expression was completely neutral as the entourage stopped. The cravat wearing Director stepped up to Genesis slapping his cheek with all the force he could. Lazard's eyes closed as he stepped back with a muttered, 'I'm sorry,' leaving the group to take Genesis up to the firing squad.

"Traitor Genesis Rhapsodos, you are hereby charged with the following crimes," the President boomed out over the microphone.

Angeal closed his eyes wishing he was anywhere but where he stood right now, but then he remembered Genesis's look of confidence, _he has a plan, I know he does._ He reassured himself quietly as he watched the area for any sign of Genesis's plan, however as he heard the speech drawing to a close there was no sign of anything he could do. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes, he was about to lose his best friend and it was his fault. One of his tears spilled over as he heard the line of rifles load up, he opened his eyes one last time wanting to see his friend's face one last time before he died. However the light that greeted his eyes surprised him, from the top of the Shin-Ra building he saw a streak of fire lighting up the sky flying towards them. He couldn't tell what shade the fire was, it kept shifting as it raced towards the execution ground, and he finally made out the shape though, a phoenix. "Adarna!" He exclaimed over the commotion as the guards shot at her while she raced over the crowd towards Genesis, as she passed over the prisoner area she dropped something into the ground in front of him.

Genesis broke away from his captors splitting his bonds on his crimson rapier; he picked up the sword easily deflecting any bullets flying his way. A moment later the guards in front of him found themselves occupied with a host of Nates, someone must have made Nate Clones. Angeal watched Adarna fly up towards the sky, making a second pass, "_**Angeal behind you!**_" She shouted, he spun around just in time to avoid an attack from a strangely mutated N-Clone. He grappled with the bluish green talons flying at his face for a minute before one of Adarna's spiked chains wrapped around the arm ripping it clean off. She landed next to him, fiery shroud gone, "_**cheers.**_"

"What's going on here?" Angeal asked watching as a commotion of N-Clones fighting anyone in sight. Weiss stood about twenty feet away holding Angeal's Buster Sword while fighting off a N-Clone, he defeated it making his way over to the two.

"_**Operation G,**_" Adarna replied as Weiss reached them offering up the Buster Sword.

"It was all Dante's idea, with a little improvisation from Nero and Ariella," Weiss added as Angeal took his sword. "None of us wanted our effort to get you back to end up like this so we devised a little plan to help Genesis escape. No idea where all the Nates came from but they certainly are useful."

Angeal nodded wisely, "I see…"

Adarna had stopped paying attention though; her gaze fixated elsewhere, "_**You two protect whom you want. I have some other business to take care of.**_"

"Um okay," Angeal nodded watching Adarna leap into the air landing elsewhere. He glanced up at Genesis engaged in combat with Sephiroth, "Weiss… why did you agree to this?"

"Because Ari's happiness is a key to Nero's, if Genesis dies that makes you sad, which would make Ari sad, see the logic here?" He laughed a little as he sliced up another N-Clone. He spotted Adarna's red hair through the crowd watching curiously as to what she was doing as it darkened into Ariella's familiar black and red.

Darcia was hunched up next to Jacob with several N-Clones advancing on them, two black streaks shot across their field of view ripping up the clones in front of them. Behind them stood Adarna, gold and silver eyes slit and narrowed, Jacob glared at her. "You're supposed to be dead, demon."

"_**Bastard, I came over here to ask one simple question on behalf of your daughter,**_" she muttered, chains automatically getting rid of any N-Clones that came near them.

The scientist glanced down at his wife then back at Adarna, "alright demon, what would that dead bitch want to ask?"

"_**Why do you hate her?**_" Adarna whispered.

"Why? Is that all? It's so simple really, she's a demon, demons should die, and monsters should die. They have no feelings; they can't feel anything, that's why they should be eradicated. We got rid of you two ages ago, two devils with one stone."

A moment later one of Adarna's chains was poised around his neck, the blades of two links pressed up against his throat. "_**Well then let me say one thing, even a devil may cry.**_" With that the chain retracted and she leaped into the air hair regaining its fire color as she launched a fireball at a group of N-Clones also happening to incinerate their target, Professor Hojo, "_**whoops my bad Chaos… took care of Vinny's revenge by mistake.**_" She laughed for a moment, "_**ah well, no worries here, now then,**_" gazing out over the crowd she saw a large Behemoth, but there was something funny about this one. This Behemoth was a clone, but its fur shone putrid vermillion sharply contrasted by its purple mane.

Adarna glanced around curiously for a moment; her chains were automatically taking care of any Nate like beings in the area. She didn't want them to stop that job, since she really didn't feel like getting attacked from behind. Watching the Behemoth Clone rampaging through the crowd for a minute she gazed around curiously, Angeal had set the Buster Sword in the ground tending to an injured person. She smirked, "_**well my old friend, have you recovered your strength too?**_" Flying over to the large sword she pulled it out of the ground flying over into the path of the charging Behemoth.

"Adarna what are you doing?!" Angeal roared seeing her having taken his sword.

"_**Watch and learn,**_" Adarna replied rushing at the Behemoth, "_**Blade Beam!**_" She shouted slamming the sword into the ground sending not a simple blue wave but a mad rush of fire towards the Behemoth sending it sliding into the ground skidding in a bloody heap to Adarna's feet, she stabbed it in the head, it's body dissolving into contaminated mako, which absorbed casually into the Buster Sword, the energy traveled down the inlaid carvings on the sword, down the handle into Adarna's arm. Angeal stood there amazed as she swung the large sword over her head for a minute handing it back to him, "_**I see you've been taking good care of it for me.**_"

"What does that mean?" Angeal asked watching her.

"_**I mean that's my sword, two thousand years ago I used that sword in the defense of this planet,**_" Adarna grinned.

Angeal's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, "I doubt it, you're a little…" he paused attempting to find the right word for it. "Um, little for this sword."

Adarna's eyes flashed, "_**At one point in my life I was taller than you are!**_"

Angeal's disbelieving expression softened slightly, he stood a proud five foot eleven inches, while Ariella only came up to four foot eleven, Adarna's spiky hair adding another two inches to make it five foot one. "Right…" he scoffed.

"_**Screw you! I was taller than you and that's my sword!**_" Adarna snapped, she sighed, "_**well Ari's getting annoyed about this so I'm leaving. Take care of my sword.**_"

A moment later the red faded out to a lone stripe, "hi Dad… We're sorry we didn't listen to you when you said to stay behind. And I'm sorry she was so mean to you…"

"It's okay Ari," Angeal replied smiling at her and ruffling her hair.

"Ari! Did it work?" Nero asked as he came running over to them shooting up any remaining N-Clones. He'd been held up in the restroom but managed to enter the fray later on.

"Yeah Genesis is free," Ariella replied smiling at him, but not all went as planned, they heard gunfire from up on top of the top of the area. On the battlement they saw Genesis running along the wall, Sephiroth and a troop of grunts giving chase. A moment later Ariella grabbed Nero by the hand and they started to give chase after Angeal, who had reached wall using the SOLDIER power of jumping several stories into the air. Ariella grinned at Nero, "want to follow him?"

"Duh," Nero laughed as they ran over to the stairs sprinting up them. Nero led the way as they pushed through the halted group; Genesis was standing on the edge of the wall with a line of rifles pointing at him. The wall in question was the ring of the Acro around Midgar's plate system, the execution grounds stood near this area to provide no option of escape. Finally reaching the head of the crowd Nero glared at Genesis, "where do you think you're going?"

"Ah, 'Follow the wind beyond the stars, follow the moon beyond the sun, I will be waiting at the end of heaven.'" Was all he got as an answer from Genesis, another Loveless quote of course.

"Genesis don't do this," Sephiroth cautioned pointing the Masamune at him.

Ariella watched him for a moment, he smiled at her, hair blowing out of his face for a moment, his gaze turned to Angeal, "take care of her for me."

Angeal nodded silently, Ariella grinned, "'Trust not to decisions, trust only in the fate of the world. Nothing shall foretell my return even if the morrow is barren of promises.'" Angeal's eyes went wide as his daughter, was she inborn with knowledge of Loveless? Of course knowing Genesis, Loveless was probably written into his genetic code at this point.

Genesis's smile grew wider, "that's my girl."

He turned his attention to the guards as Heidegger, panting and puffing, reached the top of the stairs, "someone shoot the bloody bastard!"

The sound of rifles locking and loading made Ariella jump, Genesis put a hand up, "no need to be hasty…" he stepped back a little further. "Gentlemen, esteemed daughter, you will always remember this as they day you almost caught Lieutenant Genesis Rhapsodos!"

And on that note Genesis fell backwards off of the edge, Sephiroth, Angeal, Nero, and Ariella all ran forward watching as he spread his wing flying off into the distant mountains. Heidegger stood there fuming at the group, "what do you think you are doing?! Go after him!"

Sephiroth and Angeal turned to each other, nodded for a moment, "I think we can afford to give him one day's head start?"

"By the time we get mobilized he'll have a day's head start, no sense in over stressing," Angeal agreed, "come along children."

Nero grinned at Ariella for a moment before leaning in and pecking her cheek with a kiss before running off after the SOLDIERs. Ariella shrugged and walked after him, leaving Heidegger to stew in fury.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Well folks this is the end of the story, stay tuned for the epilogue!


	32. Familia

Familia - Family

Six months later found Angeal standing with a blindfolded Ariella, along side Amistad, Cissnei and Aerith as they procured their luggage from the commercial airship, "when may we take this off?!" She hadn't been bothered walking around blindfolded but having spent the last twelve hours in one certainly hadn't been high on her list of enjoyable things.

"In a minute Ari, we need to get off of the airship," Angeal sighed as he and their company walked out.

They made the trek down the gangplank, Aerith smiled at Cissnei, "this place certainly is beautiful."

Cissnei nodded, "yeah it is, but this is my first time here on vacation." She was pulling on a pair of sunglasses, her Turk suit had been abandoned for a swallow print lavender t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Aerith, having swapped out her normal dress for something more rugged to suit their destination, smiled at her new friend, "it's a lot bigger then I thought."

Ariella's low growl had risen in pitch, "that's it," she ripped off the blindfold, heterochromic eyes adjusting to the light slowly. At that moment a duo tackled her, "Ari! Ari! Ari!"

"(Sister! Sister! Sister!)"

Ariella blinked as she recovered, to her surprise her cub brother and her human brother both sat on her chest grinning at her, "Kai! (Brother!)" She sat up slightly licking both brothers' cheeks affectionately. Angeal and Amistad had made their way towards the entrance to the cavern network in the side of the Canyon, Cissnei watched Ariella for a moment before she and Aerith had gone up after Angeal.

Her cub brother licked back, Kai giggled, "ya never told me we were related to lions Ari!"

"(You never told us that our brother could be so funny,)" the cub grinned.

They backed off letting Ariella sit up; she inspected her most familiar brother, "(your mane is coming in nicely.)" She complimented feeling the tufts of deep burgundy fur along his head.

"Hey Ari this place is so cool! And all of your friends are crazy awesome!" Kai declared as they trailed along watching the three people up ahead go in separate directions. "I was talkin' with some of them, I gotta say your coolest friend is that really cool vampire! He's like this one guy in a show only he's about a bazillion times cooler! I was playing with our brothers and sisters and this Sanghin jumps outta nowhere and then he's there with the biggest gun ever and boom he blows the monster off of the cliff!"

**_Chaos is here?_** Adarna exclaimed. **_Where?_**

"Um, Kai, where is our friend, the one you called a Lunawalker?" Ariella asked, slightly alarmed at the outburst.

"Oh him, he's up with uncle Nanaki, Grandma, and Grandpa at the top of the Canyon!" Kai pointed up at the observatory.

Ariella nodded, "would you go tell Angeal that we will be heading up there?"

"No problem sis, come on," her two brothers took off.

Ariella wandered through the maze of caverns up to the top of the Canyon, she spotted the group silently, Aerith, Vincent, Nanaki, the elder of her pride, the elder of the Canyon, and a mysterious person in a backwards red hat all watching the clouds drifting lazily in the sky. She walked over to her Elder bowing, "(it has been many flights of the Sol since last we met.)"

"(Ah it is good to see you,)" the elderly lion nuzzled Ariella for a minute. "(How have you been getting along?)"

"(It has been a very wild ride, but the Lord of Night and the Lady of Fire have been reunited,)" Ariella replied.

"(Aww well you must tell this one, for now go greet the Elder of this land,)" the grey-muzzled lion nudged Ariella towards the bald man with the sunglasses and long white beard and mustache combination.

His blue ensemble made him stand out against the iron rich sand, "ah if it isn't Adarna!"

"Hello Grandpa Bugenhagen," Ariella replied bowing respectfully. "How have you been?"

"Fine, fine, fine, I must say your brothers are quite a handful," he laughed, "I'm surprised at how calm you are."

"Well it's a long story," she smiled at him.

"Go on, I think that Chaos and Adarna wish to have a chat, we can talk latter cub," Bugenhagen teased.

Ariella nodded and walked over taking a seat between Nanaki and Vincent, she glanced over at the stranger sitting between Aerith and Vincent, "hey Vincent, who's that?" She asked watching the stranger feeling the hackles on the back of her neck stand up.

"Oh, Hewley, meet Kay, she is the friend I was telling you about," Vincent introduced leaning back slightly so she could get a better view.

Ariella leaned forward sniffing curiously before glaring, "you reek of Lunascum."

"And you reek of Solhunter," the silver haired girl replied, blue eyes gazing between her bangs amused.

"What are you doing in this place?" Ariella snarled.

"Vincent brought me along," Kay shrugged.

"I don't like you," the younger snarled, "why do you look like Uncle Sephy?"

Kay twirled a few strands of hair through her fingers, "I got sick when I was a kid and all the pigment in my hair went away. I was actually sable before then."

"I still don't like you," Ariella snarled, apparently Adarna wasn't in agreement this time.

"No fighting," Nanaki sighed biting the back of Ariella's shirt pulling her over.

She grumbled falling silent, Kay looked over at Aerith grinning slightly, "well I'm glad we decided to come."

"Yeah, this is so nice," she replied smiling as the sun started to sink slowly into the horizon.

The Elder stood up and walked over to Ariella, "come on cub, we need to talk. It requires the presence of the whole clan," she glanced back, "you all are welcome to attend this occasion." She calmly headed down the cliff face jumping along the ledges shortly joined by Nanaki.

Ariella started to follow after her but Vincent stopped her, "it would be dangerous to copy them."

"We'll be fine, no worries," Ariella tried to pull away from him but he slung her over his shoulder leaping down the Canyon.

Kay grinned at Aerith, "well do you want to follow them or stick around a while?"

"I think I just want to stay here," the flower girl yawned leaning her head onto Kay's shoulder wrapping her arms around one of Kay's.

"Cool by me then," she smiled.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the canyon, Vincent had set Ariella down next to the clan Elder and Nanaki. They made their way over to the bonfire in the middle of the Canyon, around it stood the rest of the clan accompanied by Kai. The Elder took her place at the head of the ring while Ariella squeezed in with Kai and the rest of her siblings. The Elder gazed around the group for a minute bellowing a roar that shook the canyon walls, the call was taken up by the rest of the clan. The call and answer session continued for several minutes, during which time, Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack and Nero had descended from the living quarters. When the echo died down the Elder once again gazed around the group once again, "(for generations our clan hath lived in peace when the selection of a new leader has come about. As we all know, this one is in the waning of her life, she will not live to see the new Luna cycle. Therefore as leader this one has a responsibility to select a new clan leader. For the glory of these many Sols this one has watched the cub grow up.)" She began only earning perplexed looks from most of the human contingent, she continued on, "(the new leader will be her.)" She looked straight at Ariella, the girl bowed deeply to the Elder hastening to her side.

Angeal gazed bemused around the group, "what just happened?"

"It would seem Ariella would be the new leader," Vincent muttered.

Angeal stared at the gunslinger, "she's what?! What?! What?!"

Vincent sighed, "apparently the head of the clan selects a new leader and in this case they chose Ariella."

Angeal nodded at the gunman for a moment, he walked towards the lions, "I can't allow you to do that?"

"Why not?" The Elder asked, "Is it not your custom to select a new leader as well?"

"Yes but I wouldn't pick a twelve year old!" Angeal argued.

"We have selected her for her age, wisdom, and experience, and now we must celebrate!" The Elder declared. A roar of approval sounded from the pride and several Sanghin along with Cockatrice were brought forward.

The festivities went on uninterrupted for a long time into the night with story telling, stargazing and play fighting. Long after most of the cubs had fallen asleep, including Kai, asleep between two of his new playmates around the bonfire; Ariella and the Elder had returned to the top of the Canyon to watch the stars. Nanaki was down in the party area making sure everything was safe before he leaped up the Canyon walls joining them. They sat in silence for a long while, until Ariella broke it, "(we need time to think…)"

"(About what?)" The Elder asked curiously.

"(About our new role as leader.)"

"(Yes, we forgot you hadn't gone on a spirit journey to determine your future. You have until the high Sol to do so.)"

Ariella bowed to the Elder and Nanaki before taking off into the night, _hey, um can I talk to you for a second?_

**_Sure, what's up?_**

_I don't know whether I should take the position of leader of the clan. If they had us as a leader then I think with me leading they would be at a disadvantage. I can't run very fast and I need a lot of help making decisions… besides I'm cursed…_

**_What's that supposed to mean?_**

_I seem to have a run of bad luck keeping people close to me… you remember what happened with Angeal and Genesis?_

**_Yeah how could I forget?_**

_Well… I'm worried… my whole life seems to fall apart in front of me sometimes… everything changes so fast and I can't keep up and… and…_ she sobbed hunkering on a rock outcrop.

Adarna sighed wrapping her arms around the sobbing Ariella, **_shh, calm down… you know that'd I'd never leave right?_**

Ariella sobbed harder scrunching up righter, _but… but… Chaos… what about him?_

**_Are you… jealous of Chaos?_**

_Y-Yeah… I think so…_ she nuzzled Adarna.

Adarna ran a hand through Ariella's hair gently; **_well I woulda never thought you'd be jealous. I did wonder why you've been making more of an effort to try and get my attention more._**

_Please… don't leave me alone… no matter what… please… _Ariella sobbed.

Adarna smiled holding her gently, **_No problem, you have my word._**

Suddenly the sound of footsteps caught their attention, Amistad had wandered up to the ledge joining Ariella, laying his head next to her. "It would seem you found us… what do you think I should do?"

He watched for a moment before turning his head to look at the newcomer, Nero emerged out of the darkness waking over to Ariella, "hey Ari, why ya crying?" He asked sitting down next to her.

She sniffled, "b-because I don't know what I should do…"

"Oh, um well…" he thought for a minute, "what's the problem?"

"We're supposed to become the new leader of our clan… but I don't know if I can handle the responsibility of leading the whole clan… I just…" she sobbed again clinging to Nero.

He swallowed blushing, "well, if I don't know what to do, I go and ask Weiss. So, er, maybe we should ask Angeal."

She shook her head from its place on his shoulder, "no… we need someone else…"

"Hmm, well how about that guy in the cloak, I'm sure he can help!" Nero nodded since he figured anyone in SOLDIER or the Turks who had come with them would tell Angeal.

Nero stood up helping Ariella up and they walked off in search of Vincent, it didn't take much to find him since he emerged a short ways off from a tunnel leading into the cavern network. He spotted them watching the pair make their way over, brows furrowed at the crying Ariella, "what happened?"

"Well the lions said they wanted Ariella to lead them but she's not sure what she should do." Nero replied quietly.

Vincent knelt down to their level, "Hewley, listen… either way you will need to give up one life in the end. But the one you keep is bound to be the one that will make you happiest. I will confess that not all of life will be happy for you but if you must give up one life then would you not rather give up the one that will make you least happy?"

Ariella sniffled for a minute then sobbed harder, Vincent sighed standing up, "I will return in a moment." He turned and disappeared into the caverns, Nero stood there consoling Ariella with a hug.

He felt horrible that now that he was with Ariella he couldn't do anything, "Hey Ari, you okay?" She shivered sobbing, he sighed, "hmm, hey Ari, ya know what? It's almost sunrise, you wanna watch it together?" He took her silence for a yes, and they walked over to the edge of the cliff sitting down. She leaned up against him as a pale golden light hit them, soon the light expanded sailing down the Canyon as the glow gained intensity, and the sun entered the sky.

"Hewley, Nero," Vincent muttered, Nero jumped a little at Vincent's abrupt return. He held out a pair of pale blue ice cream bars to the children.

"But that would be desert before breakfast!" Nero protested.

Ariella reached out taking the bar curiously, her tearstained face pulled into a faint smile, "thank you." She licked the bar curiously before nibbling on the corner.

Nero sighed glaring at Vincent, "thank you," he mumbled taking the ice cream eating it.

Ariella had finished her bar chewing on the stick curiously, watching Vincent silently eating his bar, they sat there for several hours watching the sun pass through to the sky until a clamor from the Canyon floor caught their attention. All three leaned over the edge spotting what looked like a large crowd of people in the middle of the Canyon. Ariella ran over clinging onto Vincent's back, "what are you doing?"

"We would jump down there but you would simply stop us, therefore we are saving you the trouble."

Vincent grunted as Nero joined Ariella on his back, _this is somewhat humiliating._

Chaos laughed, **_well do it Vinny, and if you drop Adarna you're dead._**

Vincent sighed leaping off of the Canyon rim charging down the side coming to a graceful halt at the floor. Angeal walked over as Ariella jumped off, "Ari, sweetie, according to my memory today is your birthday!" He picked her up and put her on his shoulders. The crowd included the Turks and the SOLDIER First Class, along with Nero, Vincent, Nanaki, Aerith, Kai and Kay. "What do you want to do first?"

"What do you mean?" She asked watching the crowd moving around between a large table with various local foods.

"Well presents or cake first?" Angeal asked.

"Hmm," she considered, "what are presents?"

"I'm glad you asked," Angeal smiled, the ordinarily frugal SOLDIER had gone all out on this party. He did have thirteen years of birthdays to make up for; he carried Ariella over to a large pile of brightly decorated presents. Angeal set her down, "these are all for you."

She gazed up at the pile bemused, "which one should we start with?"

"Might I suggest this one?" A casually familiar voice offered, she spun around as Genesis Rhapsodos offered up a rather large package.

"Father!" She shouted hugging him, when she stepped back she took the package, "it's a box."

"Take off the paper and see what's in it," he smiled ruffling her hair.

She unwrapped the package seeing a black leather guitar case, it had a silver embossed phoenix rising out of a field of skulls, with Genesis's help she opened the case to unveil something that made Zack have kittens, "it's a '76 Gibsan SG Standard!" Ariella pulled the vintage guitar out of the case examining the dark brown body, and the signature black left panel by the strings. She pulled the flame-embroidered strap over her shoulders holding it.

"Thank you," she nodded to him.

"Just for my girl," he smiled ruffling her hair.

Sephiroth moved to the front of the crowd, "here, open this one next." He handed her a large, thin, black wrapped present.

Angeal furrowed his brows, "what did you prepare that for a birthday party or a funeral?"

"It's a birthday present," Sephiroth nodded as Ariella unwrapped his present. A black scabbard came into view, accompanied by a golden wrapped grip.

Ariella unsheathed the katana; a long trailing phoenix had been carved into the blade, "thank you Uncle Sephy."

A nose pressed through the group as Nanaki made it to Ariella, "(the Elder wishes you, now is the time of the High Sol.)"

"(What?!)" She shouted stepping back tripping over the guitar case startled.

Genesis caught her, "come on, we need to talk."

Angeal sighed, "attention everyone the present opening will resume shortly!"

Genesis helped Ariella up and they walked off after Nanaki, when they had escaped the group, "now what's going on?"

"Our clan desires us to become leader but we do not know if we are able…"

"And I'd assume you don't want to leave Angy and Sephy right?"

She nodded silently.

He sighed, "well Ari… in all my experience I can't say I've ever been much of a leader. Heck most of my time with Angy back in Banora resulted in us getting in trouble in one form or another. But what I can say is do what you're heart says, no matter what. This way the happy parts will always outweigh the sad."

Ariella stared at the ground sobbing, "but… I can't choose one life over the other… I wanna stay with Dad… but I wanna go home."

Genesis sighed putting his hands on her shoulders; "well don't forget you will always have a place with us. No matter what."

Ariella nodded wiping her cheeks off, "but what about the party?"

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything," Genesis winked, "now hurry up, they're waiting for you."

Ariella smiled at him before sprinting off towards the open fields near the Canyon. Genesis walked back to the party, "ladies and gentlemen I regret to announce the birthday girl has left."

Angeal was the first of the crowd to reach Genesis, at which point he decked him, "you sonuvabitch! What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing, she was torn up and I told her to do what she thought she should do and she ran off."

"Dammit…." Angeal stepped back feeling heartbroken. "Ari…"

Nanaki emerged from the crowd, "you do know that the clan has moved in to this Canyon?"

Angeal turned to the guardian, "what?"

"It would seem that there was a massive fire in Wutai around six months ago, during a Shin-Ra raid. Their lands were destroyed, word of this reached me, and I recently invited the to share in this Canyon."

Angeal's face lit up, he turned to Sephiroth, who had been silently listening nodded, "I suppose we do need someone out here to keep an eye on the area. Make sure it stays safe."

Angeal smiled hearing the roar from the top of the Canyon, everyone turned to see Ariella standing there, accompanied by her pride, and he waved up at her, "permission to transfer to the Canyon, General?"

"Permission granted SOLDIER, and good luck."

--

A/N Wow this chapter was a doozy, I had about three different plots going at once for a while. But the story's finished at long last, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed and supported me through the whole event. Stay tuned for White Eyes to pick up speed now that this is done. So until then "give me one of those victory howls!" Arrooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!


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